To excel in outreach, engagement, visibility and economic development.

Strategies

1. Expand partnerships with OSU Outreach and Engagement and Research Impacts Network to promote public understanding, lifelong learning and civic engagement.
2. Enhance engagement of key external constituents, including alumni and friends, to advance and support our mission.
3. Engage more deeply with policymakers and government agencies on state and federal initiatives.
4. Enhance marketing and communications efforts to show how our contributions address today’s most pressing problems and advance science.
5. Drive economic development by nurturing innovation in education and by helping to build an ecosystem for successful translation of fundamental research for societal benefit in partnership with the OSU Research Office.

Outcomes

New understanding from research will strengthen outreach programs that develop a scientifically literate public and prepare decision makers to formulate effective policy. We will enhance trust in science. The College will become a leader for translating scientific research to meet human and market needs. The plan will raise the visibility of the College of Science’s impact and increase its influence at the university, in Oregon, the nation and the world.

Through broad outreach and engagement, the College will significantly strengthen its philanthropy and stewardship efforts among its alumni and key constituents and will raise its visibility to play influential and strategic roles in major campus, state and federal initiatives, such as Big Data, marine studies and emerging breakthrough opportunities in science.

The College will engage Oregonians and people around the globe via online learning technologies to enable degree completion and to foster lifelong learning. The College is excited to deepen our connections across Oregon—from the coast with an expanded Marine Studies Initiative to new programs at the Cascades campus, and to Portland, home to 26 percent of OSU alumni. We will focus our engagement and outreach in these key areas to leverage our Oregon connection and to bring OSU excellence to communities around the globe.

Ways we advance science

The College impacts the world through discoveries and innovations. Faculty have launched startup companies involving nanoscience, microfluidic analytical systems, data analysis and chemical manufacturing of organic building blocks for pharmaceutical and biotech markets.

College researchers in the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans lead research in nearshore ecology. Their contributions are essential to a broad program of marine studies and help managers make decisions that enhance and preserve marine research and the environment.

Raising our game

To raise our visibility, the College launched an alumni magazine and a blog-type website to share the extraordinary stories of our faculty, students and alumni. Departments invested in alumni communications and outreach to raise the visibility of our people.

To celebrate excellence, we awarded the College of Science Alumni Awards and established a Distinguished Lecture Series with the inaugural presentation featuring “From Big Data to Big Statistics” by John Sall, co-founder of the global software company SAS.

Through outreach activities such as Discovery Days and Science Pubs to VividScience and Discover the Scientist Within, our faculty and students are making a tremendous impact on scientific literacy.