Strategic Plan, B.S. in Communication

Adopted Oct. 20, 2017; Revised Aug. 13, 2019

Based on a thorough self-study, a series of faculty meetings, and on-campus dialog with other parties, we have established five strategic goals that help serve the University, College, and School's mission. We then developed a series of associated action items that support the goals to bolster our strengths, while effectively addressing weaknesses. Specific goals and actions are as follows:

Goal 1: To become a model for undergraduate and graduate communication education at a public university with well-balanced, innovative programs and curriculum.

1. Action 1. Keep the size of skills courses to no more than 20.
2. Action 2. Ensure that the percentage of classes instructed by full-time faculty is greater than 60%.
3. Action 3. Get reaccredited by ACEJMC.
4. Action 4. Update and enrich the curriculum to meet the ACEJMC guidelines as well as to account for the changing contexts of communication including media convergence and globalization.
5. Action 5. Support student media and facilitate extracurricular activities.
6. Action 6. Grow the master's degree in Communication Management to serve two main goals: to meet the demand for graduate-level study in communication and to serve the professional communication industry in the northeast Florida region.
7. Action 7. Apply for the University's flagship program designation by fall 2022.
8. Action 8. Upgrade and replace equipment as it becomes worn, out of date.

Goal 2: To further diversify the student body and faculty by demonstrating that students and faculty from all backgrounds can achieve academic and career success at high rates.

1. Action 1. Continue to implement the School's diversity plan, which sets objectives for increased minority student enrollment and increasing faculty diversity.
2. Action 2. Participate more actively in UNF's initiatives designed to recruit more students from non-traditional backgrounds, including Open House, International Center, Jacksonville Commitment Plan, College Research-Out Program, and Swoop and Presidential scholars program.
3. Action 3. Retain and expand faculty diversity by considering diversity in its broadest sense including those criteria such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, scholarly interest, political beliefs, socio-economic status, terminal degree-granting institution, etc.
4. Action 4. The faculty-selected "diversity advocate" will continue to investigate ways to increase diversity in terms of faculty hiring and retention. The diversity advocate will also make recommendations regarding curriculum and co-curricular activities as they pertain to diversity.
5. Action 5. Incorporate more diversity-related issues and pedagogical practices into the coursework of required and elective courses starting 2018.
6. Action 6. Increase the number of scholarships in the School for students with financial needs.
7. Action 7. Collaborate with VOTAC (Voices of the African Continent) to create a Visiting Scholars Program that will benefit the School and expose the faculty and students to more diverse perspectives. Journalists, other media professionals, and academics who are mostly from other countries will get mentoring from School faculty on topics related to the media profession and/or work with communication professors on research. The visiting scholars will also interact with faculty at a monthly colloquium.

Goal 3: Strengthen and support faculty scholarly and creative activities.

1. Action 1. Maintain and increase the support (including travel money) for faculty development.
2. Action 2. Continue the formal mentoring system between senior faculty and junior faculty that matches their scholarly interests, and encourage more research collaboration.
3. Action 3. Schedule annual brown-bag research meetings.
4. Action 4. Reward faculty for their excellent research (external grants, awards, etc.), for example, by a course release.

Goal 4: Continue and expand various transformational learning opportunities including community-engaged, service learning.

1. Action 1. Continue the School's commitment to community service assignments and projects in the curriculum and coursework. Continue the School's commitment to UNF's Community-Based Transformational Learning (CBTL) initiative, which refers to "learning experiences in community-based settings that enhance participants' academic learning, contribute to their personal growth and increase their civic engagement while concurrently benefiting the community or communities in which these activities are embedded" (more from: https://www.unf.edu/ccbl/).
2. Action 2. Continue to develop and implement study-abroad courses, as well as host international, exchange students.
3. Action 3. Expand the School's annual "Media Week" event to include more local media professionals coming to campus and speaking to students and faculty about the state of media professions.
4. Action 4. Strengthen relationships with local media to develop more innovative learning/internship opportunities. One way is to expand the School's professional advisory board. Another way is to expand the number of media companies participating in the School's annual Internship Fair.
5. Action 5. Continue to allow students in MMC 4975 (Internship Senior Project) to volunteer up to 20 hours of community service (and have it count toward their total Internship hour requirement) at a non-profit organization to be better exposed to and assist the diverse communities of northeast Florida.

Goal 5: Incorporate technology more into teaching and curriculum, and School operation and governance.

1. Action 1. Create a new staff line for coordinating School needs pertaining to the Internet, information technology, and other instructional technologies.
2. Action 2. Maintain the percentage of distance learning classes at about 30% of all classes in the School. Ensure that most required courses with multiple sections have at least one distance-learning option and one face-to-face option.
3. Action 3. Increase the number of faculty trained to properly provide online classes. By 2020, increase the number of faculty who have completed UNF's teaching online seminar (or one of similar value) by at least two.
4. Action 4. Implement and perfect a web-based portfolio system for all communication majors to help them compile and showcase all of their work in a unified venue, and eventually prepare them for leadership in the new, converged communication field.
5. Action 5. Improve the School homepage with more applications to facilitate alumni relations, donations, etc. Continue and expand the online School alumni newsletter.