Reason For Action
AIM Statement
Foster a scholarly research environment that leverages core strengths while expanding emerging priorities of strategic importance. Addressing challenges to identify innovative solutions that will advance Utah and the nation.
Address challenges to identify innovative solutions that will advance Utah and the nation, and advance a dynamic institutional portfolio that aligns research investments, growth in graduate programs, and external partnerships toward high-impact outcomes where USU demonstrates distinctive strengths.
Key Requirements
Solutions must include:
- Research portfolio that informs impactful solutions to advance Utah and beyond
- Portfolio concentration primarily leverages existing strengths
- Research-based graduate program growth
- Investment decisions must be transparent and strategically justified
- Institutional partnerships with peer institutions must be intentional and visible
- Evaluate return on research investment (funding leverage, partnerships, workforce pipeline, economic contribution)
- Define how the research portfolio extends beyond Logan, including Extension and Statewide Campuses
Multi-Year Initiative Roadmap
Year 1
- Research Initiatives Life Cycle Design Event
- Public & University Sharing - Sharing our story Design Event
- Graduate Education Working Group Project
- Strategic Systems - user-friendly "one system" Project
Year 2
- Pre- and post-development support Design Event
- Interdisciplinary teaming mechanism Design Event
- Faculty hiring Design Event
- Research development redesign Design Event
- Research analytics and outcomes Project, including aligning faculty role statements and tenure and promotion practices with the focused initiative portfolio
Year 1 Initiatives (Design Events & Projects)
The summit identified four Year 1 initiatives – two design events and two projects – each with a draft charter developed during the summit.
| Initiative | Problem Addressed | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Research Initiatives Life Cycle Design Event |
There is no administrative support for an institution-wide, cohesive research strategy, and no clear process or structure to define USU’s core research strengths and focused initiatives or to guide institutional investment in research and creative work. | Develop administrative support, processes, and criteria for strategic initiative life cycle – a long-term 3–5-year cycle with continuous review of challenges in each initiative – that is relevant to external stakeholders and the land-grant mission, and that promotes faculty engagement. |
| Public & University Sharing Design Event |
Public perception of university research can be misinformed, which alienates partners and supporters and undermines reputation, funding, and recruitment. USU needs to be better at telling its ‘research story’, both internally and externally. | Build a University-wide strategy to shape the public-facing narrative for research (“your tax dollars at work”), tailoring messages to stakeholders with frequent sharing, and increasing internal sharing of expertise to support collaboration and resource use – including statewide and Extension. |
| Graduate Education Working Group Project |
Growing doctoral enrollment is a strategic research imperative, but USU struggles to attract PhD students, accountability for graduate growth is unclear, and infrastructure for PhD career advising and networking is limited. | Recruit, fund, support, and retain graduate students and strengthen post-graduation outcomes, including postdoc support, training, and management. Scope includes master’s-to-doctoral ratio, enrollment mix, tuition and assistantship funding, and retention and completion. |
| Strategic Systems Project |
USU does not have a central faculty activity database that facilitates searching for faculty expertise or the impact of USU research. Current research systems are not optimized for this use or integrated across the campuses. | Utilize the new Scholarly system to create a user-friendly database that shows what research is happening at USU, with faculty entering information only once. It is important that researchers be involved in the practical integration. |
Meet the Team
Executive Sponsors
Lisa Berreau
Vice President for Research
David Jones
Dean – College of Engineering
Facilitators
- Design Summit Facilitator: Nicole Schrubb, Executive Director of Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness
- Design Events Facilitator: TBD
Team
| Name | Title | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Brooke Osborne | Assistant Professor - Environment & Society | Moab |
| Chris Fox | Associate Dean & Professor - Engineering | Logan |
| Derek McLean | Dean - Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources | Logan |
| Devin Hansen | Chief Research Compliance Officer | Logan |
| Julia Gossard | Associate Dean for Faculty Success & Professor - Arts & Sciences | Logan |
| Justin Jones | Associate Professor - Biology | Logan |
| Larissa Yocom | Utah Forest Restoration Institute Director | Logan |
| Mirella Meyer-Fica | Associate Professor - Veterinary Medicine | Logan |
| Paul Hill | Extension - Director of Washington County Operations | Washington County |
| Shawn Whiteman | Associate Dean For Research & Innovation & Professor - Education | Logan |