A major strength that benefits the Biology Department is being housed
in the new Kindschi Hall of Science, a building that the Biology
faculty helped design to meet its own specifications. Working in this
custom-designed facility will greatly enhance the department's
ability to foster student learning and collaborative scholarship for
years to come. The Biology Department finalized major reviews and
substantial program revisions to its undergraduate Biology and Natural
Resources Management majors in 2015 and 2016, and will be fully
implementing the revised programs during the current strategic plan
time period. As a result of the major revisions to the undergraduate
Biology and Natural Resources Management curricula, the department
will need to carefully assess the impact these changes will have on
program and student outcomes and student learning objectives. If the
desired effects of these curricular changes are not obtained, the
department needs to be ready to institute corrective revisions
promptly. By updating its undergraduate curricula, the Biology
Department is well-placed to continue providing a high-quality
education through state-of-the-art programs to students in its
undergraduate Biology and Natural Resources Management majors.
Students in the Biology Department are involved in research,
internships, service learning, and international experiences through
their association with the Biology Department, and these
are activities we will continue to encourage. The Biology Department
recognizes and rewards its faculty for excellence in teaching,
scholarship, and service. Multiple University awards attest to the
teaching excellence of the Biology faculty. The Biology faculty is
actively engaged in scholarship, and includes a substantial number of
exemplary scholars with national and international reputations. Both
undergraduate and graduate students in the Biology Department also are
actively engaged in scholarship with faculty mentors. The Biology
Department faculty provides substantial service to the college,
university, and community, and faculty members occupy leadership roles
in all of these service areas. The service provided by the Biology
faculty is a source of substantial synergism with both teaching and
scholarship and is a collective strength that the Biology Department
should not relinquish. Even though the department successfully
hired seven tenure-track faculty members from 2009 to 2016, as a
result of resignation, retirement, and administrative reassignment,
the total number of tenure-track faculty in the Biology Department
actually declined during this time period, from 35 in 2009-2010 to 32
by the end of 2015-2016. As a result, the Department remains
dependent on affiliate, visiting, and adjunct faculty to instruct a
substantial number of course sections, especially in its introductory
lecture and laboratory courses. This also was identified as a
challenge in the 2003-2008 self study, and is an area of continuing
concern to the department. For this reason, the department needs to
continue its efforts to increase and then maintain the number of
tenure-track faculty so that it is better able to support the
substantial teaching, scholarship, and service duties expected of its
faculty. The strategic plan detailed below was developed based on the
specific challenges identified through the unit-level and programmatic
self studies completed in April, 2016, and focuses on actions
to address those challenges. Those things the Biology Department does
well, as detailed in the unit-level and programmatic self studies,
will continue to be done well, even if they are not specifically
represented by formal strategic plan objectives.
Mission
The Biology department offers undergraduate programs in Biology and
Natural Resources Management and a graduate program in Biology. The
Biology department is an inclusive learning community that engages in
critical inquiry extending scientific knowledge and practices to foster
engaged citizens, and mentor creative and competent professionals in the
biological and natural resource sciences.
Vision
The Biology department will provide students with theoretical and
practical skills by offering a rigorous and challenging curriculum
rooted in intensive field and laboratory courses. We will encourage
creative and critical thinking by providing opportunities for
independent research projects both inside and outside of the curriculum.
In order to do this, we recognize that we must support faculty and
students to be engaged in scholarly pursuits. We will foster an
atmosphere where student learning, discourse, discovery, and reflection
are encouraged throughout the curriculum. By the time undergraduate or
graduate students finish our program, they will be competitive
applicants for employment or admission to professional or graduate
school in the biological or natural resource sciences.
Value Statement
The Biology department values: 1. A broad, challenging, and current
curriculum featuring intensive field and laboratory courses. 2.
Opportunities for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate research
experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. 3. An engaged,
diverse and responsive faculty, dedicated to excellent teaching,
scholarship and service at all levels. 4. Faculty and student
involvement in education, scholarship, community engagement, and
professional service related to the scientific aspects of biological,
ecological, and environmental sustainability.
Strategic Priorities, outcomes, and key objectives
Strategic Priority Area 1: Actively engage learners at all levels.
Outcome A: Grand Valley's learning environment is personal, challenging, and transformational, supporting excellent academic programs and co-curricular opportunities.
Outcome D: Grand Valley supports innovative teaching, learning, integrative scholarly and creative activity, and the use of new technologies.
Outcome E: Grand Valley strategically allocates its fiscal, human, and other institutional resources.
Strategic Priority Area 2: Further develop exceptional personnel.
Outcome A: Grand Valley's learning environment is personal, challenging, and transformational, supporting excellent academic programs and co-curricular opportunities.
Strategic Priority Area 3: Ensure the alignment of institutional structures and functions.
Outcome B: Grand Valley is diverse and inclusive.
Strategic Priority Area 4: Enhance the institution's image and reputation.
Outcome A: Grand Valley's learning environment is personal, challenging, and transformational, supporting excellent academic programs and co-curricular opportunities.
Outcome C: Grand Valley has mutually beneficial relationships, partnerships, collaborations, and connections with local, state, national, and world communities.
Outcome E: Grand Valley strategically allocates its fiscal, human, and other institutional resources.