Theme 1
INVEST IN ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Monmouth University prepares students to live happy, healthy, and productive lives that are marked by creative pursuits, innovative contributions to their profession, and cultural competence and connectedness that improves lives in their community and around the globe. Monmouth students benefit from high-impact pedagogical practices such as service-learning courses, faculty-led study abroad programs, senior seminars, and valuable internships with businesses and organizations. We value the foundation that a liberal arts education provides and prepare students with the knowledge and discipline-specific skills they need to be leaders in their professions.
Review the structure, organization, and alignment of curricular units to ensure academic excellence.
- Study the structure of the academic units and schools to ensure that we are organized in the best possible way to attract, serve, and advise highly motivated and diverse students.
- Conduct a comprehensive review of existing programs and the general education curriculum to identify ways to strengthen programs, to ensure academic rigor, and to incorporate critical scholarship, diversity, and inclusion.
Consider the development of new, high-quality programs that meet student demand.
- Explore the development of new, strategic, high-demand academic programs to meet market demand, including undergraduate (e.g., hospitality management and film) and graduate programs (e.g., Doctor of Occupational Therapy and Master of Science in Data Science).
- Develop three pipeline degree program options for industries that require advanced degrees (i.e., 4+2, 3+3) and for students who seek accelerated pathways to their graduate degrees.
- Develop targeted certificate programs and microcredentials, focused on skill development in order to meet needs for target populations, which may include adult learners, veterans, professionals, and others who need to update their credentials in high demand areas (e.g., data analytics, clinical competencies, application of technology, etc.).
- Develop an innovative Monmouth Advantage program to expand holistic support services for our academically at-risk students.
Increase capacity for high-impact and engaged learning for current students rooted in strong pedagogy.
- Strengthen the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows program with a goal to expand and improve service-learning course offerings to benefit both our students and the community.
- Provide innovative opportunities for learning by increasing summer session offerings and exploring the possibility of creating a winter session, growing the number of offerings by 25%.
- Expand online offerings, especially for undergraduate students in the summer and for graduate students. Increase the online instruction training for students and faculty while, to the extent possible, standardizing the platforms the University utilizes to deliver this instruction to increase a level of comfortability with and proficiency in a virtual learning environment.
- Expand access to and enhance global education experiences (i.e., study abroad programs, global curricular offerings, and targeted international student and faculty recruitment and retention opportunities) that are designed to maximize students’ academic and career related experiences, expand internship opportunities abroad, and increase faculty-led programming.
Enhance resources and opportunities for faculty and student collaborative research with a goal of growing participation in both the number of grants applied for (25%) and the number of grants awarded (25%).
- Improve the support for faculty research and scholarship including through an expanded Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and Office of Grants and Contracts (OGAC).
- Integrate the various Institutes more fully into the academic enterprise to increase high-impact teaching, scholarship, research and service, and to aid in student recruitment.