Strategic Plan:
EXCELLENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CHANGE
Our Mission
Binghamton University is a premier public university dedicated to enriching the lives of people in the region, nation and world through discovery and education and to being enriched by its engagement in those communities.
An evolving institution
Since its inception in 1946 as Triple-Cities College, significant change has characterized the history of Binghamton University. It has evolved from a four-year liberal arts college with a reputation for superb undergraduate education into an excellent doctoral research university with a range of liberal arts and professional programs, one that carefully seeks to preserve that undergraduate excellence. In fewer than 60 years, Binghamton University has become recognized for the quality of its academic programs and for the significant contributions its faculty make to understanding hearts and minds, society and culture, the physical world in its myriad forms, and the deepest reaches of abstract thought -- analytical, philosophical, and mathematical. Excellence is a delicate state of being; it must be continually recreated. Achieving Binghamton’s greatest potential will require committing ourselves both to enhancing our core strengths and to further change. Binghamton University faces important challenges stemming from shifting national trends and state and institutional realities. This plan charts a course to address those challenges; it arises from the vision of a truly distinguished and unique institution of higher education, one that combines an international reputation for research, scholarship and creative endeavor with the best undergraduate programs available at any public university.
Realizing our vision
Our mission as a premier public university is to enrich the lives of people in the region, nation and world through discovery, education and engagement. The four overarching strategies below are designed to advance this mission. Pursuing the following actions will preserve the University’s heritage, broaden its range of influence, enhance its visibility and acclaim, and ensure its vibrancy and vitality.
• Invest in academic excellence, innovation, growth, and diversification
• Enhance engagement and outreach
• Create an adaptive infrastructure to support our mission
• Foster a campus culture of diversity, respect and success
These recommendations encourage the University to pursue both the traditional and the innovative, to reconsider and expand relationships within and beyond the institution’s traditional bounds, and through decisive action, to position the University to determine its own course in the rapidly changing environment of higher education. Ways to achieve these strategies are set forth in an appended document, Implementing Our Strategies: A Roadmap To the Future.
Critical guideposts, visible measures
Excellence in achieving our mission is led by faculty. In the next five years we intend to increase the number of faculty by 20% in order to achieve a student to faculty ratio of 20:1. Hiring will occur both within and at the interfaces of disciplines and professions. We will seek individuals who share our enthusiasm for expanding the boundaries of knowledge and understanding while closely mentoring students – both undergraduate and graduate. As new lines of inquiry open and new programs evolve from such interests, more flexible arrangements that promote both discovery and learning will be developed.
As a young and energetic research institution, we also intend in the next five years to achieve a doubling in sponsored research activity. The goal and timeframe assume a relatively stable funding environment. If there are significant reductions in the availability of funds, it may take longer to achieve this goal. Sponsorship comes in many forms -- public and private grants, partnerships, and gifts -- we will seek resources for individuals for their research and creative endeavors and for interdisciplinary groups. Sharing specialized facilities, equipment, and technical expertise will increase the University’s competitiveness for external funding and make the best use of resources available to the campus.
Advances in knowledge flow from active interchange among seasoned scholars and bright aspirants. Attracting and retaining excellent graduate students is key to enhancing our reputation in research, scholarship, and creative endeavors. As we grow judiciously, we intend to achieve a 3:1 ratio of undergraduate to graduate students and to provide competitive stipends for our doctoral students.
As a public institution of higher learning, the University has always shown itself willing to collaborate with business, educational, governmental, and not-for-profit organizations in addressing the seemingly intractable problems they face. Over the next five years, our aspiration is to increase the number of those partnerships by 25% and to find a way to communicate what we learn from them to the academic community at large.
To achieve such ambitious goals, the University must devise a more adaptive infrastructure where people, facilities, and technologies can be brought together in ways that enable the University to respond rapidly and effectively to new opportunities and changing circumstances. The campus needs a more diversified resource base, more creative and efficient use of existing resources, and revised policies and practices. The University is determined to expand its human, financial, and material resources by encouraging as many sectors of the institution as possible to look beyond the campus for added support. As a result, a significant increase is expected in the number and percentage of faculty and staff seeking extramural support of all kinds over the next five years. The University will, in turn, support individuals and provide enhancement for all programs or units that 1) seek and acquire resources beyond those normally available on campus, 2) obtain national or international recognition in scholarly, competitive or creative environments, or 3) cultivate and sustain exceptionally rich learning experiences.
In essence, our institutional future depends not on the few but on the many, with each member of the University community contributing to the greater good of the institution. Therefore, our success depends upon creating an environment that brings out the best in everyone. We intend to be a place where each individual understands how he or she helps advance the institution’s mission and feels appreciated for those contributions.
Conclusion
Binghamton University enjoys a national reputation for excellence, but our past achievements will not assure our success as the world changes around us. Known for the talents and scholarly contributions of our faculty, the selectivity and achievements of our students, and the dedication and ingenuity of our staff, Binghamton University intends to enhance the impact of its contributions to discovery, education, and engagement in the years to come. Aligning the choices we make throughout the University with these strategies will enable Binghamton University to achieve its vision. Guided by these strategies we can leverage our current strengths, enhance educational opportunities, extend the boundaries of knowledge and understanding, engage the world more broadly, and develop new, diversified sources of revenue, as we seek the best and strongest future possible for Binghamton University.