2019 - 2024
Strategic Plan
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Forestry &Wildlife
Sciences
School of
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 2
WORKING WITH NATURE
FOR SOCIETY’S WELL-BEING
CONTENTS
Auburn’s forestry program was rst established as the joint Department of
Horticulture-Forestry in 1946. In 1950, the Department of Forestry was created
and later accredited by the Society of American Foresters. In 1984, the department
was awarded “School” status in recognition of its growing prominence in research,
outreach, and undergraduate and graduate education. Fifteen years later, Auburn’s
Department of Wildlife Sciences merged with the School of Forestry to create what is
now the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences (SFWS).
Today, the SFWS offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a variety
of natural resources disciplines. Our core undergraduate degree programs include
Forestry, Wildlife Ecology and Management, Wildlife Pre-Veterinary Medicine
Concentration, and Natural Resources Management, as well as graduate degrees at
the master’s and PhD levels. In recent years, SFWS curricula has expanded beyond
its core programs with the adoption of 3 new undergraduate degrees, including the
Geospatial and Environmental Informatics, Sustainable Biomaterials and Packaging,
and Wildlife Enterprise Management programs. The SFWS has also expanded to
offer distance education and online learning platforms with the availability of an online
non-thesis master’s degree and professional certication programs in the areas of
Restoration Ecology, One Health, and Forest Finance and Investment. Since the
launch of these programs, SFWS undergraduate and graduate student enrollment
has increased nearly 50 percent, respectively.
At the SFWS, professors are world-class scientists who offer unsurpassed classroom
instruction and abundant opportunities for experiential learning. Our faculty also lead
research which ranges from biological, ecological and geospatial, to socioeconomic
and policy aspects of forestry, wildlife, and natural resource conservation. The
diversity of SFWS research allows students the opportunity to participate in
research aimed at nding solutions to some of the most critical issues facing society.
Undergraduates are exposed to research methods such as data collection, laboratory
analysis, computer modeling, and other activities that have the potential to inuence
human health, climate resiliency, forest policy and product development, and wildlife
and natural resources management strategies.
The SFWS is housed within a recently constructed 110,000-square-foot building
that features a 100-seat auditorium, eight technology enhanced classrooms,
modular conference rooms, research laboratories, libraries, project rooms, a student
advisement suite, and a student lounge. Adjacent to the building is a picnic pavilion
and acres of forested green space available for student learning and enjoyment.
In addition to this facility, the SFWS offers nearly 6,000-forested acres and many
educational facilities dedicated to instruction and experiential learning, including the
120-acre Kreher Preserve and Nature Center and the 400-acre Mary Olive Thomas
Demonstration Forest, both located within Auburn, and the 5,300-acre Solon Dixon
Forestry Education Center near Andalusia, Alabama.
The SFWS is a agship institution for natural resource-based degrees and is the
backbone to Alabama’s $24 billion forest, wildlife and natural resources industry.
Its combined assets of faculty, facilities, and curriculum are preparing the next
generation of leaders with the knowledge and ability to conserve and manage our
natural systems for a sustainable future.
HISTORY & OVERVIEW
2 School History & Overview
3 Mission, Vision, Core Values,
Strategic Goals & Themes
4 GOAL 1.
Elevated Auburn Experience
6 GOAL 2.
Transformative Research
7 GOAL 3.
Impactful Service
9 GOAL 4.
Operational Excellence
10 Strategic Planning Process
“The Longleaf pine and the raptor
signify the merging of the forestry
and wildlife programs to create
the School of Forestry & Wildlife
Sciences.”
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 3
The land-grant mission of the School of Forestry and Wildlife
Sciences is to improve social, economic, and environmental
well-being of citizens in Alabama and beyond. The school
pursues this mission by elevating the Auburn experience,
pursuing transformative research, engaging stakeholders
through impactful service, and achieving operational
excellence.
Through innovative and strategic programming, strengthening/
building partnerships, and energizing/engaging our alumni,
friends, and stakeholder base, the School of Forestry and
Wildlife Sciences aspires to become the “go-to place” for
forestry, wildlife sciences, and natural resources programs in
the U.S. Southeast and beyond.
The cornerstones of the school’s operations are its core values
of excellence, inclusion, and connectivity.
Our goals represent the highest SFWS priorities for the next
ve years. The accomplishment of these goals will best position
our school to achieve its mission.
1. Elevated Auburn Experience
Inspire and prepare students for life and natural resource
careers through delivery of an excellent and supportive
experience characterized by distinctive, innovative
curricula and engaging student life programs. Achieve a
robust and diverse enrollment of students while enhancing
academic quality.
2. Transformative Research
Elevate research and scholarly impact to address society’s
critical issues and promote economic development in
Alabama and beyond.
3. Impactful Service
Expand our service capabilities to foster greater innovation
and engagement that enhances the quality of life and
economic development in Alabama and beyond.
4. Operational Excellence
Implement operational efciency and effectiveness
measures that continuously support a culture of high
performance at all levels of the SFWS. Recruit, retain and
invest in our outstanding people through development,
support, recognition, and rewards. Enhance school
communication and engagement.
The School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences embraces ve
themes within its efforts to achieve the four goals of its strategic
plan. These themes also help us realize our vision and advance
our land-grant mission.
SFWS themes include: Organizational Excellence, Diversity
and Inclusion, Technology and Communication, and
Globalization.
Organizational Excellence: Fostering an environment where
students, staff, faculty, and stakeholders can proactively
share innovative ideas to advance our academic, research,
and extension/outreach programs is important. We should
not hesitate to embrace bold ideas and calculated risks to
stand out among our peers. In the face of limited resources,
focus and prioritization should be the guiding principles for
new investments. Societal challenges/opportunities such as
climate mitigation, bio-economy, and environmental health
and wellbeing, for example, warrants multi-disciplinary experts
working together. Collaboration and partnerships with other
schools/colleges, universities, and stakeholders is not an option
but a necessity for the school to leverage resources to meet its
goals.
Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity in terms of race, gender,
age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality and so forth
contributes to the real-world representation of our work place
and classrooms. Understanding, accepting, and valuing our
differences fosters a more creative and innovative learning
environment. Involving and empowering all groups of people
promotes a sense of belonging and supports a democratic
decision-making process. Creating a diverse and inclusive
environment is key to attracting and retaining the best and
brightest students, faculty, and staff.
Technology and Communication: Technology is critical to
our operations and to enriching and amplifying our teaching,
research, and service activities. Using appropriate technologies
in a timely manner saves time, reduces costs, offers us new
opportunities, and increases our revenue base. The school
is committed to assuring that our information and technology
platform is secure and up to date. Communication is vital
to raising awareness of the school’s academic, research,
and outreach pursuits. We will continue to intensify our
communication and marketing efforts through print, electronic,
and social media to showcase our programs and recruit high
achieving students, faculty, and staff.
Globalization: “If you are not a global player, you cannot
become a global leader.” With advanced technologies and
communications, the number of people who live in one
continent, study in another continent, and work in an entirely
different continent at the same time is expected to increase.
Similarly, to be relevant and impactful, organizations must also
seek to foster collaborations and partnerships with diverse
institutions from all continents of the world. It is imperative
to address global issues such as climate mitigation and
adaptation, biodiversity and conservation, and the emerging
bio-economy, while continuing our strategic and opportunistic
approaches to expanding our international reach and promoting
SFWS academic, research, and outreach programs.
MISSION
VISION
CORE VALUES
STRATEGIC GOALS
THEMES
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 4
The SFWS offers world-class faculty, state-of-the-art labs, expansive eld sites,
and cutting-edge, knowledge-based technological resources. Our students are
provided the highest-quality classroom instruction, hands-on learning experiences,
and professional development opportunities to acquire discipline-specic knowledge
and skills in preparation for a competitive job market and a diverse global workforce
within business, industry, government, and non-prot sectors.
DISTINCTIVE, INNOVATIVE CURRICULA
The SFWS faculty support two long-established degree programs, Forestry, Wildlife
Ecology and Management, and Wildlife Pre-Veterinary Medicine Concentration
that serve as its core curricula. In addition to these, the SFWS has expanded
its academic footprint to include several other undergraduate degree programs
that draw from its faculty’s diverse expertise. These include Natural Resources
Management (NRM), Sustainable Biomaterials and Packaging (BIOP), Geospatial
and Environmental Informatics (GSEI), and Wildlife Enterprise Management (WLEM).
The NRM degree offers an innovative, interdisciplinary combination of social and
ecosystem sciences to develop students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills
to address the challenges of complex natural resource issues. Students customize
their degree for a variety of specializations by choosing a minor in Natural Resource
Ecology, Nature-based Recreation, Urban Environmental Science, and Watershed
Management, or any other offered on campus including minors in the areas of
business, communications, sheries, and sustainability. Likewise, the BIOP degree
is an interdisciplinary program that requires courses from three collaborative
units on campus including the Colleges of Business and Architecture, Design and
Construction, and the Department of Biosystems Engineering within the College of
Agriculture, to prepare students for careers within emerging bio-based industries
such as nanotechnology, packaging, and construction.
The GSEI degree program provides students with rigorous training within the areas
of information technology, spatial science, data analysis, natural resources, and
ecological modeling to prepare them for in-demand technological careers. Graduates
will be prepared for a wide variety of career opportunities within public agencies and
government, private corporations, and consulting rms. Finally, the newest SFWS
program, the WLEM degree, provides interdisciplinary knowledge and skills relating
to wildlife management, business, hospitality, and client relations for careers within
nature-based, for-prot outdoor enterprises.
Beyond Teaching Discipline-Specic Knowledge and Skills
We continuously reassess our curricula to ensure that it reects the content,
structure, and delivery methods needed for students to be successful after
graduation. As such, it is necessary to continually improve and expand highly
impactful practices such as eld-based instruction, undergraduate research,
internships, and study abroad offerings. To accomplish this goal, the SFWS will
strive to increase the portion of SFWS students, including those with nancial
hardships, that participate in a high impact practice. Further, the SFWS will
increase incentives for faculty to develop and instruct study-abroad courses,
undergraduate research offerings, provide leadership for student organizations,
cultivate and promote internships, and engage in other high impact practices.
Broadening Delivery Channels
To meet the future needs of our students, the SFWS will broaden its instruction
delivery channels to reach new, emerging, and non-traditional undergraduate
and graduate student segments. To engage these populations, the SFWS will
create online undergraduate minor programs and expand its online degree
and certicate programs beyond the present offerings of the online non-thesis
master’s degree and three graduate certicate programs.
GOAL 1. ELEVATED AUBURN EXPERIENCE
ENHANCING STUDENT
OUTCOMES
During the 2-semester course,
the SFWS Forest, Environment,
and Wildlife Leadership (FEWL)
Academy members have
opportunities to meet with leaders
and policymakers in Montgomery
and Washington, D.C. Here
they are shown with Zia Haq, far
left, senior analyst and defense
production act coordinator in the
Bioenergy Technologies Ofce,
Department of Energy, Ofce of
Energy Efciency and
Renewable Energy.
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 5
Strategies for achieving these goals may include
increasing the number of incentives for faculty to develop
and instruct online courses and increasing section offerings
by piggybacking undergraduate and graduate online
courses.
ENGAGING STUDENT LIFE PROGRAMS
Employee surveys demonstrate that SFWS graduates are
well-versed in the technical aspects of their specic careers.
In addition to classroom and experiential learning, the SFWS
also trains students to develop effective communication and
leadership skills. To that end, the SFWS sponsors an annual
school-wide career fair and “soft skill” workshop intended to
help students develop professional and interpersonal skills
such as communication, team work, conict resolution, work
ethic, and character attributes of integrity, empathy, adaptability,
and emotional intelligence; which are often noted as crucial
for career success. Finally, good leaders are not born, they
are developed and mentored throughout their lives. To assist
undergraduates in this process, the SFWS has established
a new initiative called the Forest, Environment, and Wildlife
Leadership, or FEWL, Academy. The two-semester FEWL
Academy is available to eligible rising juniors with an interest
in developing leadership abilities necessary for the critical
problem-solving of issues related to the management,
utilization, and stewardship of natural resources. In recent
years, the SFWS has also launched a young alumni society
which provides opportunities for members to grow their
leadership skills through the mentorship of current SFWS
students.
Strengthening Professional and Career Preparedness
The SFWS will continue to expand beyond its teaching
discipline-specic knowledge and skills to encourage
student participation in “‘soft skills’ training opportunities
designed to enhance professional development and
leadership abilities. This effort will be reected by
an increase in undergraduate and graduate student
participation in programs such as the Forestry,
Environment, & Wildlife Leadership Academy; SFWS
Career Fair; SFWS student clubs; and other related
activities.
Enhancing Co-Curricular Experiences
Given the increasing diversity of SFWS students, it will be
important to achieve a more coherent and supportive co-
curricular experience for students as well. The SFWS will
improve student cohesiveness among degree programs
and inclusivity of non-traditional students with the
expansion of student activities, organizations, and other
ancillary program offerings available to its diverse student
populations.
ROBUST AND DIVERSE RECRUITMENT, ENROLLMENT,
AND RETENTION STRATEGIES
Historically, SFWS forestry and wildlife degree programs have
attracted students from rural areas in Alabama. To promote
student diversity beyond its traditional socio-demographic
prole, the SFWS has adopted a proactive recruitment effort
to reach a more diverse population of high school students
within urban areas. As a result, we are recruiting students
who may not have experienced the “outside” but yearn for
a career in the areas of natural resource management.
Additionally, the innovative curricula, diverse occupations and
vast career opportunities associated with the new Wildlife
Enterprise Management, Sustainable Biomaterials and
Packaging, and Geospatial and Environmental Informatics
degrees are expected to attract nontraditional students,
women, and minorities. Further, the SFWS will continue to
expand its portfolio of cooperative partnerships with schools
that are predominately under-represented such as those at
Tuskegee University and the University of West Alabama.
Transfer students are also part of the larger picture to grow the
SFWS undergraduate enrollment without sacricing academic
standards or affordability. In 2019, the rst dual enrollment
program, Path-2-Plains, was launched between Auburn
University and Southern Union State Community College
for students to pursue the geospatial and environmental
informatics degree.
Recruiting Top Students and Raising Academic Standards
The SFWS is committed to actively recruiting top
undergraduate students and raising academic standards.
To achieve this goal, the SFWS continually seeks to
elevate its branding and communication efforts to better
distinguish its academic programs from other units at AU
and beyond. To do so, the SFWS will engage its students,
alumni, and stakeholders to highlight SFWS curricula,
experiential learning, academic and post-graduate
achievement, and potential career opportunities. These
efforts will be bolstered with the development of digital
communications to visualize, automate and systematize
marketing campaigns in support of recruitment.
Improving Student Success
To assure successful student outcomes, the SFWS will
seek ways to improve student advisement and nancial
support to promote retention. In support of this goal,
the SFWS will increase engagement with external
stakeholders to develop new fellowship and scholarship
opportunities for all SFWS degree offerings, particularly
for non-forestry degrees where opportunities are limited.
The SFWS will also increase the effectiveness of student
mentoring and advising by decreasing undergraduate
student/faculty advisor and student/professional advisor
ratios. Finally, we will seek methods to improve student
communications through emerging online platforms and
other technologies.
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 6
FACULTY AND RESEARCH-ENGAGED STUDENTS: CULTURE,
PROCESSES AND CAPABILITIES
The SFWS research program has long been a major strength and source of national
and international renown for the unit. The SFWS program is one of the most
productive at Auburn University in terms of extramural funding and refereed article
production on a per capita basis. The program is highly diversied with traditional
strengths in wildlife and forest biology, forest products, forest economics, and forest
engineering. In recent years, those strengths have expanded to include climate
modeling, disease ecology, water sciences, and other interdisciplinary themes.
Correspondingly, over time our extramural funding base has diversied to include
non-traditional sources such as NASA, the CDC, Department of Defense, as well
as others. Traditionally, our funding base has been predominantly federal in origin
although the proportion of federal dollars in our extramural funding has diminished.
As state and many federal budgets become smaller and there is increasing emphasis
on relevance, we anticipate greater breadth in our research activities and extramural
funding base. There will be greater emphasis on societal impacts of our research that
will, in turn, enhance its transformative inuence. As examples, SFWS research in
the areas of climate modeling and water science is highly pertinent to the increasing
frequency of hurricanes along coastlines throughout the world. Research in disease
ecology can unravel relationships between forest fragmentation and incidence of
mosquito-vectored diseases. Forest products research can develop new products
from wood that will rejuvenate the economies and standard of living in rural areas
throughout the southeastern U.S.
The climb in extramural dollars will stimulate and require increases in our numbers of
graduate research assistants, or GRAs. Assistantships are critical for the successful
conduct of research and as our research portfolio expands, additional graduate
students will be recruited. This will afford us opportunities to build the portion of our
graduate program that is research based and provide cutting-edge interdisciplinary
training for bright students from across the U.S. and world.
Increasing Research Capacity
To support the growth of its research program, the SFWS will seek opportunities
to increase its research capacity, including the number and quality of SFWS
graduate student research opportunities for domestic and international students.
To this end, we will explore opportunities to develop and expand collaborative
student exchange programs with international universities. Further, we will
increase resources and funding associated with SFWS graduate student
assistantships and fellowships. Efforts will include strategies to increase the
number of graduate teaching assistantships available.
IMPACT AND FOCUS
The SFWS research trajectory leading to enhanced relevance and transformational
impacts is built upon a rising 3-year average in extramural funding through our
planning horizon. The impetus for increased attraction of federal, state, and
foundation funding is focused upon particular foci or centers of excellence within
the school. Focal topics reect sustained funding potential associated with societal
issues that are likely to remain problematic such as economic duress in rural areas,
increased frequency of aberrant climatic events including drought, ooding, and
hurricanes, and rising emergence of tropical diseases and disease vectors. Strong
collaborative relationships at national and international levels have already been
established for many research foci although we will also address newly emerging
issues that link natural resources with society as well as capitalize on new funding
opportunities in the long-term.
GOAL 2. TRANSFORMATIVE RESEARCH
ADDRESSING
SOCIETAL ISSUES
Students participate in various
cutting-edge research aimed to
address natural resource issues
such as health-related interactions
among people, animals, and the
environment. Shown is graduate
student Nicole Castaneda placing
a mosquito trap in Atlanta for a
study to determine if the number
and species of birds inuence West
Nile virus occurrences.
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 7
Strategies for expansion of SFWS research and graduate
education depend on closer integration with society’s needs to
ensure that our work is truly transformative and relevant. Many
critical linkages between natural resources and society are
only now beginning to be explored but are key to enhancing
society’s well-being. Our goal is to conduct that exploration
and apply the accrued knowledge for the benet of all people.
Strengthening Research Cutlure and Career-Long
Research Engagement
In the next few years, the SFWS will strengthen its
research culture and career-long research engagement.
This will be accomplished in part by promoting
opportunities, increasing recognition, and expanding
nancial resources in support of interdisciplinary research
for SFWS faculty and students. Measured progress toward
this goal will be shown by increased opportunities and
incentives for faculty interaction and engagement. This is
expected to increase the generation of interdisciplinary
research proposals. Further, the SFWS will expand
efforts to secure more federal, legislative, and the amount
of foundation dollars for high impact research. To do so,
we will increase the sources and amount of federal and
legislatively nanced research expenditures and engage
the Auburn University Foundation to present/conduct
meetings or workshops to explore new foundation funding
opportunities.
Forest products and recreation contribute more than $12.5
billion to Alabama’s economy and employ 111,000 Alabamians
with a payroll of $3.4 billion per year. Alabamians spend
10.5 million days and $913 million a year enjoying the
state’s wildlife resources. However, when surveyed, many
of Alabama’s small-scale private landowners state that their
primary reason for owning land is to pass it on to their heirs,
with outdoor recreation and scenic beauty rounding out the
top three reasons. Timber production comes in fth in order of
importance for small-scale private landowners in Alabama who
own fewer than 100 acres of forestland. However, landowners
who own more than 100 acres report that they would like
to generate some revenue from their land but are often
unsure how to proceed. Our overarching program objective
is to increase the knowledge level of Alabama’s citizens
to encourage the active and sustainable management of
Alabama’s natural resources. Our goal is to improve quality of
life as it relates to a variety of natural resources issues by, not
only providing information, but providing the inspiration clients
need to put that information into practice.
SERVICE OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENT
The mission of the SFWS is to “…improve social, economic,
and environmental well-being of citizens in Alabama and
beyond.” Our outreach programs engage thousands each
year through programs offered at the school’s Kreher
Preserve and Nature Center and the Solon Dixon Forestry
Education Center. SFWS faculty and staff regularly partner
with other departments, agencies, schools, and not-for-prots
to offer K-12 and postsecondary educational programs, skill
development workshops and technical seminars, eld training
exercises, research project assistance, and community
programs.
Similarly, the mission of the Alabama Cooperative Extension
System (ACES) Forestry, Wildlife & Natural Resources (FWNR)
Team is accomplished by providing science-based programs
and educational materials that are responsive to the natural
resources needs of the public. The FWNR team consists of
state specialists who partner with regional Extension agents
who are each housed in one of seven regions across the state.
The team also supports county Extension coordinators and
staff when they need natural resource-based programming
in their county. Our topics of expertise include: 1) community
forestry, including risk assessment, chainsaw safety, arborist
education and beekeeping; 2) forest management, including
principles, practices, and stewardship for landowners; 3)
professional logging management, including forest business
resources, alternative income generation, prescribed re, and
land management for women and minority landowners; 4)
invasive species identication and control; 5) water quality and
farm pond management; and 6) wildlife management, including
game and non-game management techniques and wild pig
control.
The SFWS Extension and outreach team provides timely
information and technical assistance through printed materials,
websites, social media, seminars, workshops, and site visits.
We take a lead role in youth education and professional in-
service training and host face-to-face and online workshops,
demonstrations, and eld days that will benet all Alabama
citizens, including but not limited to the general public,
landowners, land managers, and youth. As we look to the
future, we plan to increase our online course offerings and
continue to increase our return on investment, or ROI, through
increased collaborations and grant writing. Online courses
and increased collaborations will expand our reach beyond our
current client base. Increased grant writing by all members of
the group will advance our team toward self-sustainment.
GOAL 3. IMPACTFUL SERVICE
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 8
Addressing Natural Resource Issues
Through faculty and staff involvement, the SFWS strives to be Alabama’s “go
to” resource for addressing natural resource issues. Our goal is to extend the
reach of our expertise through innovative, inclusive, and convenient educational
programming and strengthen collaborations with other academic institutions,
state and federal agencies, NGOs, and industry partners. From faculty work
through the ACES and elsewhere, accomplishment of these goals will be
reected by increased SFWS online programming, increased ROI gures,
and increased collaboration with regional agents. Outputs from these efforts
will include increased client contacts, program results, publication numbers,
and successful grant applications.
The SFWS will also look to strengthen partnerships with other land-grant
institutions including Tuskegee and Alabama A& M Universities to develop new
economic and educational programs. It is expected that this can be achieved
through increased collaborations with research faculty at other institutions,
increased advisement to faculty regarding needed outreach activities, increased
work force development opportunities, and the development of workshops and
other programs to facilitate graduate student outreach experiences and skills.
Advancing Economic Development
The SFWS will strengthen engagement with public and private sectors to
advance economic development. By leveraging SFWS academic expertise
and regional Extension agent networks, we expect to enhance economic
development through educational programs. These efforts will enhance
workforce development, create opportunities, and improve overall quality of
life of Alabamians. Advancements toward these goals will include developing
work force opportunities with Alabama A&M and Tuskegee University. Further,
the SFWS will seek to expand programming between ACES and research
faculty involved with products with potential economic development such as
biomaterials and packaging.
Attaining Self-Sustainment
To expand impact, SFWS Extension faculty will also advance toward self-
sustainment, including more revenue generation from programs and increased
external fund-raising. Efforts will include developing nancially self-sustaining
extension programs that better balance program costs and revenues while
developing capacity to successfully obtain extramural funding for program
support at all levels (e.g., specialist to county agents). Measured progress
toward these goals will include increased external funding for programming,
increased CEU programming, and providing grant-writing training for
regional agents.
IMPROVING QUALITY
OF LIFE
The SFWS provides natural
resource-related educational
programs for adults and children
such as the Kreher Preserve
and Nature Center’s Woodland
Wonders Nature Preschool, an
innovative and revolutionary
concept of nature-based, emergent
learning designed for preschool-
age children.
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 9
EXCEPTIONAL AND ENGAGED FACULTY AND STAFF
To advance Auburn’s land-grant mission of education, research,
and outreach, the SFWS is committed to investing in its
outstanding faculty, staff, and support resources that enable
the delivery of its programs for the benet of its students,
stakeholders, and society. The SFWS is committed to recruiting
the best and brightest faculty and staff, mentoring them to
establish their programs, supporting their development and
career goals, recognizing their needs and accomplishments,
and rewarding them with fair and appropriate incentives. As
part this process, the school dedicates and actively pursues
resources, strives to reduce barriers to productivity and
advancement, identies methods to improve communication
and morale, and seeks to optimize procedures and operational
efciencies.
Encouraging and Rewarding Professional Growth
The SFWS will actively encourage and reward professional
growth by increasing the availability of technology and
training opportunities to enhance the knowledge and skills,
communications, and efciencies of its faculty and staff.
This will be supported by encouraging and increasing the
number of faculty participating in sabbaticals. Further, we
will increase the number of faculty and staff participating in
formal professional training opportunities.
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS
The SFWS strives for operational excellence by using
resources responsibly while promoting scal accountability
and compliance with university policies and procedures.
As part of this commitment, we have adopted many new
technologies that assist with the consolidation and streamlining
of ofce procedures. As we continue to grow, it will be
increasingly important that the SFWS effectively utilizes its
space, equipment, technology and human resources while
continuously supporting a culture of high performance.
While the school is blessed with a relatively new building, state-
of-the-art indoor labs, and several unique outdoor living labs,
there will be some emerging needs as the school continues to
grow. In the next ve years, the SFWS will explore avenues to
create infrastructure relating to our packaging systems program
and a nature preschool that will enhance its outreach program.
As the school grows in size and excellence over the next ve
years, we are committed to hiring additional faculty and staff to
ensure its sustainability. The school will continue to use shared
governance as a means of decision-making and advancing the
SFWS mission while continuing to promote a respectable and
safe working environment, collegiality, and a positive attitude in
serving our clientele.
Improving Service and Effectiveness
The SFWS will improve efciencies by identifying and
redesigning major academic, administrative, and business
processes to reduce costs while improving service and
effectiveness. Identifying these processes will facilitate
strategies to eliminate redundancies and increase cost
efciencies. Examples of successful implementation may
include increasing the number of practices designed to
create autonomy for SFWS business, information and
technology exchange, and communication. Further, the
SFWS will look to increase the involvement of supervisors
in training and managing employee nancial matters
involving hiring, payroll and purchasing, and increase
centralized administrative purchasing to better capture
economies of scale.
Leveraging Internal and External Stakeholders and
Partners
The SFWS will evaluate its resources and leverage
internal and external partners to achieve our goals. We will
continue to evaluate the condition and optimize the use of
its ofce, laboratory, facility, and technological resources to
meet future needs. If found to be insufcient, the school will
prioritize needs and develop strategies to repair, replace,
and/or enhance resources to support its programs. This
will include efforts to increase human resource capacities
to support program growth and increased productivity.
The SFWS will also conduct a formal evaluation of human
resource, building space, equipment, and technology.
Based on this evaluation and SFWS goals, we will develop
an optimization plan to acquire resources and engage
internal and external partnerships to meet the school’s
current and future needs.
INCREASED COLLABORATION AND STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT
With the Auburn University strategic budget model in place, the
SFWS will explore all possible avenues to increase its revenue
base. New investments and reallocation of resources will be
guided by our priorities and growth opportunities. The school
will take a proactive approach in making its scal platform
transparent to faculty and staff and intensify its development
efforts to mobilize resources from alumni and stakeholders.
With the launch of its new undergraduate majors and online
graduate programs, there will be opportunities to build new
collaborations and partnerships with a range of clientele.
GOAL 4. OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 10
As part of our land-grant mission, the SFWS will continue to promote the
environmental, economic, and social wellbeing of Alabama and beyond. As a
member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network USA, the school is
committed to incorporate the principles of sustainability to improve the SFWS,
Auburn University, Alabama, and the world.
Strengthening SFWS Visbility and Reputation
Enhanced marketing and communication will be emphasized to strengthen
the visibility and reputation of the SFWS and its programs. We will identify and
engage with new stakeholders, particularly those representing new curricula,
research expertise, and non-traditional student populations to demonstrate
career opportunities, identify student internships, build scholarships and
fellowships, and diversify the school’s leadership.
To better distinguish and elevate the school’s image, we will engage vendors to
enhance our communications and marketing portfolio to include video, social
media advertising, and other digital platforms. We will develop a comprehensive
marketing plan that will identify our target audiences and optimal marketing
channels to build SFWS brand awareness, support our teaching, research, and
outreach objectives, and achieve our recruitment and fundraising goals.
Achieving New Afliations
Finally, we will engage our faculty and staff to effectively inform, engage,
and integrate new stakeholders to achieve life-long and mutually benecial
afliations. As a result, we will diversify our student prole and leadership while
increasing philanthropic giving through industry, public, and private organizations
and other institutions representing the school’s diverse interests.
A ve-month process was followed to develop the 2019 - 2024 School of Forestry
and Wildlife Sciences Strategic Plan. In June 2019, an 8-member, faculty and
staff lead Strategic Planning Coordination Committee (SPCC) was formed at the
direction of SFWS Dean Janaki Alavalapati. The faculty members of the SPCC
included a range of experience and expertise that were representative of the school’s
faculty and programs. Two staff persons were also included to represent SFWS
administrative support functions. Members of the SPCC included:
• Christopher Anderson, Associate Professor (chair)
• Edward Loewenstein, Associate Professor
• Brian Via, Professor
• Susan Pan, Assistant Professor
• Mark Smith, Professor and Extension Specialist
• Adam Maggard, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
• Sue Robinson, Executive Assistant to the Dean
• Jamie Anderson, Communications and Marketing Specialist
The SPCC rst met in July 2019 and established the following procedure and
timeline for completion of a SFWS Strategic Plan. For further guidance, the SPCC
later met with Tim Becker, founder and owner of Probity Business Group. Mr. Becker
was retained by Auburn University to assist with the strategic planning efforts across
campus and provided advice and input to the SPCC on our procedural process. The
following was a general timeline of the SFWS Strategic Plan formation.
SFWS STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
FOSTERING DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION
The SFWS seeks to achieve a robust
and diverse enrollment of students
while enhancing academic quality
and student outcomes.
ENGAGING ALUMNI
AND STAKEHOLDERS
The SFWS engages alumni and
stakeholders during events held
throughout the year. Shown center is
Dean Janaki Alavalapati with Hunter
Grimes and David Padgett of First
South Farm Credit, sponsors of a
regional reception held in
Andalusia, AL.
Auburn University School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences 11
1. COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION MEETINGS
Using the 2019 - 2024 Auburn University Strategic Plan as a basis, the SPCC
determined that the SFWS Strategic Plan would include four major goals
representing its academic, research, and outreach programs and administrative
functions:
• Goal 1: Elevated Auburn Experience
• Goal 2: Transformative Research
• Goal 3: Impactful Service
• Goal 4: Operational Excellence.
SPCC members were then assigned in pairs to one of the major goals and
began engaging with SFWS faculty and staff to develop relevant sub-goals and
key performance indicators (KPIs) in support of each goal.
2. STRENGTH-WEAKNESS-OPPORTUNITY-THREAT (SWOT) ANALYSIS
The primary mechanism for SFWS engagement was to conduct an individual
SWOT analysis with faculty and staff for each goal. A SWOT analysis is intended
to organize important internal (i.e., strengths and weaknesses) and external
(opportunities and threats) factors that are expected to affect the organization.
Each SWOT analysis was facilitated by the lead SPCC representatives for each
goal to provide an open forum for employee input to the SFWS Strategic Plan.
All SFWS faculty and staff were invited to attend and contribute to each SWOT
analysis. Those unable to attend were encouraged to provide their input directly
to the SPCC. SWOT analyses for all the goals were generally well attended (15-
25 persons each) and were held July 19-26, 2019.
3. INITIAL DRAFT OUTLINE OF THE SFWS STRATEGIC PLAN
Following the SWOT analyses, the SPCC generated draft sub-goals related
to issues that were identied and ranked as key concerns/priorities among
SFWS faculty and staff. Decisions regarding potential sub-goals and action
items were produced with assistance from SFWS leadership (Dean, Associate
Dean of Research, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and SFWS Extension
Coordinator). Upon completion, an initial draft outline of the SFWS Strategic
Plan was submitted to faculty and staff for review and input.
4. FINALIZATION OF THE STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLANS AND KPIs
An organizational half-day meeting was held for faculty (Sept. 16, 2019) and
staff (Sept. 24, 2019) to elicit comments regarding draft sub-goals and to
generate KPIs for each sub-goal in support of the SFWS Strategic Plan and a
complimentary Operational Plan. Revisions and KPIs were incorporated by the
SPCC and reviewed by SFWS leadership. In some cases, Auburn University
KPIs were used as reference to guide the development of the SFWS Strategic
and Operational Plans. Following subsequent revisions by SFWS leadership
and SPCC members, new drafts of the Strategic and Operational Plans
were submitted electronically to all faculty and staff for nal comments and
suggestions. Minor revisions and suggestions were incorporated and
prepared as nal documents.
For more information visit sfws.auburn.edu.
REWARDING GROWTH
AND ACHIEVEMENT
The SFWS actively encourages
and rewards professional
growth. During the annual AU
Employee Appreciation luncheon,
Dean Janaki Alavalapati is shown
acknowledging employees for their
work in support of the university’s
mission.
