STRATEGIC PLAN
(Also refer to the Texas Tech University Strategic Plans and Assessment Reports)
MISSION STATEMENT
The Department of Computer Science engages in the research, education, and service activities required to create and disseminate the knowledge of problem solving using computers.
VISION STATEMENT
The Department of Computer Science will be the undergraduate Computer Science department of choice in Texas and will be recognized as one of the top research and graduate Computer Science departments in the nation.
Texas Tech University Computer Science Department will
- advance the state-of-the-art in computer science and software engineering through the achievement of fundamental advances, testing these advances through their application to hard problems,
- instruct undergraduate and graduate students in the state-of-the-art scientific and engineering methods pertinent to computer science and software engineering in order to lead students to a point of understanding where they remain inquisitive, serious, ethical, and creative problem solvers,
- be recognized as one of the top public educational and research computer science departments in the United States, attracting the best students, faculty and staff;
- prepare students to be leaders and decision makers, articulate and principled, innovative and confident, and able to think critically with sound reasoning ability;
- be a research-intensive department where faculty discovery enhances learning and prepares students to compete in a knowledge-based society; and
- be engaged in local, regional, and state social and economic development for the benefit of both the public and private sectors.
Texas Tech University Computer Science Department is committed to the values of
- mutual respect;
- cooperation and communication;
- creativity and innovation;
- community service and leadership;
- academic and intellectual freedom;
- pursuit of excellence;
- public accountability; and
- diversity.
GOALS, CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS, and OBJECTIVES (including Strategies and Assessments)
Goal 1. Academic and Research Excellence: The flagship goal, critical to the success of the Department of Computer Science.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- Be listed in the top 40 of publicly funded Computer Science Departments. Obtain a student-faculty ratio of 15-1 (Currently 46-1).
- Grow the tenure track faculty to 30. (Net increase to 2001-2002 budget required is $1,100,000.)
- Provide salary adjustments for existing faculty, in the amount of $300,000.
- Increase the number of tenure/tenure track FTE and attract new faculty members to meet our flagship goal.
- Ability to make strategic hires-$2 million per hire.
- Provide 1 research assistant or teaching assistant per faculty member.
- 40 % of Full Professors should be Fellows of professional societies.
- Obtain (or add to) resources to produce the following intra-disciplinary labs.
- Obtain (or add to) resources to produce the inter-disciplinary labs.
Objectives:
Objective 1.1: Build research programs that enhance the academic reputation of the Department of Computer Science.
Strategies:
- Develop nationally recognized interdisciplinary labs.
- Hold research days within the department to develop understanding of results among research groups.
- Hold research workshops with other departments to identify interdepartmental relationships that need to be developed.
- Develop significant ties with key federal and state agencies.
- Recruit, hire, develop, and retain nationally recognized faculty.
Assessments:
- Increase to $100,000/FTE/year in research expenditures (Currently ~$70,000).
- Increase the number of per year archival publications/citations by 10% (Since 1997 we have doubled the number of archival publications).
Objective 1.2: Modernize and strengthen undergraduate and graduate programs.
Strategies:
- Update and expand instructional labs.
- Modify and improve the undergraduate curriculum.
- Increase the size of the graduate program Ð focusing on Ph.D. student enrolment.
Assessments:
- Equip a modern Unix-based lab facility.
- Update Windows-based labs and make systems bootable to a Unix or Windows based system.
- Maintain a Ph.D. enrollment of 15-25 students.
Goal 2. Access and Diversity: Recruit, retain, and graduate a larger, more academically prepared, and diverse student body.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- Increase of $140,000 to provide funds for Ph.D. lecturer positions and $100,000 for TAÕs.
- Have 60% of entering freshmen meet the criteria for admission to a major and a minimum five-year graduation rate for students admitted to majors of 90%.
- Annually increase diversity in the department until our diversity matches or exceeds that of the university as a whole.
Objectives:
Objective 2.1: Improve retention and graduation rates.
Strategies:
- Provide opportunities to apprentice the very best undergraduate and graduate students, outside the classroom.
- Raise admission standards to increase average SAT/ACT scores.
- Develop additional undergraduate mentored research opportunities.
- Increase undergraduate student participation in national and regional programs and conferences.
- Recruit national merit scholars and other distinguished high school graduates.
- Implement an integrated marketing program that advances the universityÕs reputation.
- Identify, enter, and pursue winning national academic/scholastic competitions.
- Establish and implement performance standards for all academic programs.
- Track and report the professional success of undergraduate students.
- Increase the number of students affiliated with honor societies.
- Provide support for honor society officers to attend national conferences.
Assessments:
- Graduate 50-70 Computer Science majors per year.
- Undergraduates have a mean SAT of 1200 or ACT equivalent.
Objective 2.2: Improve national ranking and reputation of graduate and professional programs.
Strategies:
- Recruit 50% of our graduate students from other key disciplines in order to afford us the opportunity to compete for students outside the highly competed and small pool of computer science graduates, while allowing us to import deep domain knowledge concerning the hard application areas of interest.
- Develop additional graduate research opportunities.
- Increase graduate student participation in national and regional programs and conferences.
- Recruit distinguished college graduates.
- Encourage and assist graduate students in applying for nationally recognized scholarships and funded research opportunities.
- Implement an integrated marketing program that advances the departmentÕs reputation.
- Establish and implement performance standards for all graduate programs.
- Track and report the professional success of graduate students.
Assessments:
- Number of funded research opportunities.
- Graduates have a mean GRE of 1200.
Goal 3. Partnerships: Build strategic partnerships and alliances to support the teaching, research, and service mission of the Department.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- Increase the number of faculty who are actively advising federal agencies and industry to 5%.
- Increase the number of relationships with universities to 5.
- Increase the number of industry alliances to 3.
Objectives:
Objective 3.1: Increase the number of working partnerships with other departments and institutes on campus.
Strategies:
- Promote working relationships with other colleges and departments and with the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.
- Develop interdisciplinary lab organizations in Computational Mechanics and Materials, Human Centered Computing and Intelligent Data Understanding.
- Develop intra-disciplinary labs inside the department to include researchers from the sub-disciplines that will be working together.
- Identify the sub-disciplines in computer science and software engineering from which results are needed to address hard applications. Many of the hard application areas require significant advances in more than one sub-discipline.
Assessments:
- Development of interdisciplinary lab organizations in Computational Mechanics and Materials, Human Centered Computing and Intelligent Data Understanding.
- Development of intra-disciplinary labs inside the department to include researchers from the sub-disciplines that will be working together.
Objective 3.2: Forge and strengthen relationships with other institutions, labs, funding agencies, and industry.
Strategies:
- Nurture relationships with government labs and federal agencies.
- Actively participate in University/COE interdisciplinary and strategic federal initiatives (Red Book Process).
- Develop funds to invite visitors from other institutions, labs, and agencies for short and extended stays.
- Identify hard application areas (i.e., in other disciplines) that will provide the best hard applications for testing the theories. Develop and expand relationships with Biology, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Psychology.
- Work with Federal Agency counterparts in their efforts to identify key challenge problems to galvanize the computer science research community.
Assessments:
- Increase in funded research projects.
- Increased involvement of faculty in advising industry, agencies, and other institutions.
Goal 4. Resources and Infrastructure: Maintain a quality work force and work environment and maximize the use of technology in the delivery of services.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- The computer science department is in dire need of a new building.
- As the enrollments and the research agenda increases, we will require increases in the support for the department, including a systems administrator, coordinator for undergraduate programs, and additional clerical help. Net increase to 2000-2001 budget required for staff is $164,000.
- The interdisciplinary nature of the proposed activities require that faculty members in Computer Science be able to travel more freely to NASA and other research sites. In order to provide the funds to travel to collaborating institutions and agencies, and in order to bring in visitors, we request an increase in travel funds over the next four years. Net increase to 2000-2001 budget required for travel is $22,000.
- As the enrollments and the research agenda increases, we will require increases in the operations budget of the department. Net increase to 2000-2001 budget required for M&O is $25,000.
- The department will require the improvement and expansion of existing hardware facilities. A major UNIX lab needs to be added and internal and interdisciplinary labs need to be created. To broaden the range of equipment available for instruction and research, we will require an annual budget of $150,000. Net increase to 2000-2001 budget required for equipment is $90,000.
Objectives:
Objective 4.1: Recruit and retain top faculty and staff.
Strategies
- Increase the number of tenure/tenure track faculty positions proportional to the increase in students and research.
- Increase number of minority hires to 20% of the turnover in faculty. Decrease the annual turnover rate to 10%.
- Use appropriate benchmarks to bring faculty and staff salaries to parity.
- Foster an environment where faculty and staff can achieve their potential.
- Equalize faculty workloads.
- Increase percentage of women and minority faculty.
- Increase professional development for all employees.
- Provide necessary equipment and technology.
Assessment:
- Add faculty and staff positions until full complement exists.
Objective 4.2: Improve and modernize facilities.
Strategies:
- Update technology in a systematic manner yearly.
- Maximize the utilization of existing space resources.
- Maximize the use of technology
- Renovate existing facilities.
- Obtain funding for a new building.
- Add instructional and research lab space.
Assessments:
- Produce and implement equipment replacement plan that retires equipment on a five-year schedule.
- Renovate existing facilities by 2003.
Goal 5. Department Development and Marketing: Enhance the fiscal stability through development activities that support students, faculty, and college operations.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- URESTRICTED FUNDS: We require unrestricted funds for new facilities, endowed chairs, and a departmental endowment for research leverage:
- $18M Ð new facilities,
- $3M Ð departmental endowment,
- $8M Ð individual endowed chairs.
- Increase Annual Giving by 30%.
- Maintain a departmental website that is (1) connected to the university website, (2) uses state-of-the-art technology, (3) is up-to-date, (4) is easily navigable, (5) is flashy and appealing to prospective students and faculty, (6) clearly describes out teaching, research and service missions, and (7) is broadly informative about the department.
Objectives:
Objective 5.1: Increase amount of unrestricted funds for the department.
Strategies:
- Identify endowments for scholarships and chairs.
- Increase annual giving of alumni.
- Increase the visibility of the department.
- Design and implement strategic marketing/advertising/promotion campaigns that highlight the Department and its people.
Assessments:
- New informative brochures and websites.
- Work with college and university efforts to obtain new endowments.
- Amount of funding.
Objective 5.2: Develop graduate recruiting materials.
Strategies:
- Target recruitment materials for graduates of other disciplines.
- Visit universities in the region to recruit their graduates.
Assessments:
- Increase the number of domestic graduate students from other universities.
- Recruit a larger number of Texas Tech University graduates.
Goal 6. Engagement: Build community connections that enhance the quality of life for students and the community.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- Increase student design projects involving industry problems.
- Assist the college in their efforts to support programs that are designed to attract K-12 students (including minority students) to Computer Science: Upward Bound, West Texas BEST, Imagineering, TAME, etc.
Objectives:
Objective 6.1: Become a recognized resource for the region.
Strategies:
- To be a significant contributor to regional economic and workforce development.
- Maintain the role of the Department at Reese Technology Center.
- Increase the studentsÕ design project involvement with local industry.
Assessment
- Number of student and research projects that benefit the region.
Goal 7. Tradition and Pride: Develop a national image based on Tech traditions and pride in Tech achievements.
Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):
- An integrated marketing plan.
- Activities, programs and events that build and sustain Tech pride and tradition.
- 10% of faculty and staff appointments in leadership roles in national organizations.
Objectives:
Objective 7.1: Strengthen the pride and prestige associated with all Texas Tech programs and activities.
Strategies:
- Increase the number of faculty on boards of national technical societies with the intent of bringing their national meetings to Texas Tech.
- Increase alumni participation in college activities so that a minimum of 1/3 our graduates in the most recent 10 year period have established a working relationship with their departments or the college.
- Utilize university regional development staff to implement events hosted by the Department in their city.
Assessment:
- Increase the number of faculty on boards of national technical societies with the intent of bringing their national meetings to Texas Tech.
Contact Information
| Mailing Address: |
P.O. Box 43104 Lubbock, TX 79409-3104 |
|---|---|
| Shipping Address: |
8th & Boston CP Building Room 211 Lubbock, TX 79409-3104 |
| Phone: | (806) 742-3527 |
| Fax: | (806) 742-3519 |
Mailing: P.O. Box 43104, Lubbock, TX 79409-3104
Telephone: 806.742.3527