Focus Area 1: People

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1.1:

Recruit, Retain and Invest in the Talented Faculty, Staff and Students of CALS

Without CALS’ talented, committed faculty, staff and students, nothing in this strategic plan is possible. In the years before this plan, CALS employees—and all those who work in higher education—experienced significant challenges navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting the quality of life, mental health and well-being of those tasked with continuing to deliver high-quality education or conduct cutting-edge research amid these unprecedented times. While most employees reported high job satisfaction at the beginning of the pandemic, the challenges of operating, researching and teaching in changing remote and hybrid environments underscore the need for further efforts to retain existing faculty and staff. Competitive compensation, adequate and effective administrative support, reduced administrative and compliance burdens, excellent infrastructure and, in the case of faculty, available research funding will all positively impact our ability to recruit the highest caliber of talent to all levels of the college moving forward. Combined with the everchanging nature of higher education and a rigid, complex compensation structure, these dynamics are and will continue to be very real threats to how organizations like CALS recruit faculty and staff and, most importantly, retain and recognize the talented individuals already part of CALS—at all facilities, campuses, offices and locations.

CALS needs faculty, staff and student leaders for all components of the college. We must grow leaders internally from the diverse faculty and staff we already have, continue to hire successful leaders and provide robust leadership training opportunities. Historically, we have been phenomenally successful in assembling interdisciplinary teams to address big issues in life sciences and agriculture. Our ready, willing and able faculty and staff have stepped up to lead these programs. We must build on this success and empower these driven individuals by creating robust leadership programs that equip our people to take on these transformational programs and leadership roles in our departments, units and the college.

These challenges also extend to how we support our graduate and postdoctoral students, who serve in some of CALS’ most crucial roles across teaching, research and Extension and represent the future of higher education—both at NC State and throughout the world. We view these students as both a priority and cornerstone of how the college achieves its vision and goals, helping them to feel supported in all they do, with an array of opportunities to gain experiences that make them more effective teachers, researchers and communicators in the future.

We must be innovative, creative and intentional in how we invest in our people at CALS. This includes exploring and pursuing all available avenues to reward and recognize high performance, provide professional development and institutional support, acknowledge how our people live our shared values, establish clear career pathways to advance within our CALS organization and build an inclusive and team-based culture that positions CALS as an employer of choice among North Carolina employers and higher education institutions across the nation.

GOAL 1.1.1: EQUITABLY IMPROVE COMPENSATION, DEVELOPMENT, REWARDS, RECOGNITION, AND WELL-BEING FOR FACULTY, STAFF, POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLARS AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

KEY INITIATIVES

Key Initiative 1: Create comprehensive professional development, growth, leadership, retention and mentoring programs for faculty and staff at all CALS locations

Key Initiative 2: Enhance and promote well-being initiatives for faculty, staff and students

Key Initiative 3: Develop and implement strategies to maximize equitable and competitive pay, especially in regard to salary compression

Key Initiative 4: Increase graduate and postdoctoral student financial support and mentoring

Key Initiative 5: Enhance and promote college-wide and institutional rewards and recognition programs to elevate the work and accomplishments of high performers

SUCCESS METRICS

• Average total compensation for all CALS faculty, staff and postdoctoral students (relative to market benchmarks) • Salary distributions among employees • Employee engagement survey results • Faculty and staff retention rate • Total graduate students • Individual graduate student stipends • Total graduate student stipend funding • Graduate degree completion within standard degree timeframe • Teaching evaluations of teaching students • Professional development, leadership, retention, mentoring and wellness program participation rate

WOLFPACK 2030 ALIGNMENT

• Goal 1: Empower students for a lifetime of success and impact • Goal 4: Champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being in all we do

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1.2:

Continually Grow and Reinforce a Culture of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Well-Being Throughout CALS

North Carolina as a state is becoming increasingly diverse—geographically, demographically and socioeconomically. Higher education is also seeing unprecedented levels of interest among nontraditional students, from an influx of midcareer residents seeking education for new opportunities to those from historically marginalized areas who, in many cases, are first-generation college students and international students attracted to the prestige of American universities. A National Center for Education Statistics analysis of the characteristics of postsecondary students notes that, in fall 2020, ten percent of full-time college students were 40 years or older with 29 percent of part-time college students 40 years or older. In tandem, NC State’s student enrollment has increased steadily over the last five years, and the university is actively working to enhance student diversity and increase support of transfer students by expanding pathways to NC State, with the goal of a more diverse student population, but also one with varying experiences and needs. As one of the state’s largest colleges, we recognize the importance of equitably prioritizing the experiences of all the people and communities we serve so that all who interact with our college feel welcome and experience a place or environment where they clearly belong. This involves having people who look or sound like them—whether they are a prospective student or faculty or staff member stepping into one of our facilities or interacting with one of our CALS people through one of our many Extension outreach programs.

Additionally, with mental health challenges more prevalent than ever, and anxiety and depression on the rise, the bonds that connect the people of CALS have been stretched unlike any period in our history. The mental health of students, faculty and staff in higher education has been heavily impacted in recent years, with the National Library of Medicine identifying increased stress and anxiety in a 2020 study that has elevated the pressing need for interventions and preventative strategies. As we look to 2030 and beyond, it is crucial that the well-being of the faculty, staff and students who comprise this community remains at the forefront of the culture we continue to invest in and build.

We must meet these trends with real priorities, initiatives and action that demonstrate our commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being is more than just words on a page. Instead, it is a mindset and baseline expectation that governs and is woven into all we do. To live this out, we will take great care to fully understand and prioritize the employee and student experience at all levels, address needs or expectations for support that enhance an individual’s sense of belonging and well-being in our organization and implement tangible policies, programs and structures to maximize that experience.

GOAL 1.2.1: EXPAND CALS’ COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING

KEY INITIATIVES

Key Initiative 1: Implement new or expanded DEI priorities, training programs and leadership development initiatives, including integration of these policies into hiring and evaluation processes

Key Initiative 2: Implement diversity, equity and inclusion learning modules for all incoming CALS undergraduate and graduate students as part of CALS’ orientation and onboarding process

Key Initiative 3: Enhance business processes, structure, programming, funding and support for the CALS Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Key Initiative 4: Establish internship program with a focus on recruiting high-caliber students from historically marginalized backgrounds

• Diversity rate of CALS faculty, staff and students (demographic and socioeconomic) • Faculty and staff retention rate (demographic, socioeconomic and geographic) • Number of international students and visiting faculty (annually) • Employee engagement survey results, specifically questions involving diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and well-being • CALS culture survey results • Internship participation rate

WOLFPACK 2030 ALIGNMENT

• Goal 1: Empower students for a lifetime of success and impact • Goal 4: Champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being in all we do

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1.3:

Build a More Efficient, Connected CALS

As one of the largest colleges at NC State and in the University of North Carolina system, CALS has the benefit of significant geographic reach but also the challenge of maintaining connectivity and alignment across its more than 120 distinct operating locations—from NC State’s Main Campus in Raleigh to off-campus centers and institutes, research stations and field labs, greenhouses, and county Extension offices throughout the state. While not the only solutions, efficient and advanced communications and technology represent key components to how we can address these connectivity challenges. This dynamic is particularly relevant as the university continues to shift toward and prioritize interdisciplinary collaboration, where real-time coordination and integration of resources are most crucial in generating the scale of impact successful interdisciplinary initiatives can create.

CALS is also like many large, complex organizations in that there are traditional work silos that inhibit collaboration and lead to inefficient or burdensome processes that can limit our ability to be nimble in the face of changing needs, educate our students, deliver groundbreaking research and efficiently serve our many stakeholders. These same silos carry significant risks and challenges in how we communicate with these same stakeholders—internally within CALS and NC State, externally with stakeholders ranging from North Carolina’s many crucial commodity groups to industry research partners, and externally on a broader scale in communicating the importance of agriculture and life sciences to the general public. We must recognize that our external stakeholders include both our traditional stakeholders from rural agricultural areas and those from urban areas who may have different issues and needs.

Furthermore, we cannot achieve greater connectivity without proper technology solutions. Many rural areas across the state in which CALS operates lack even basic technology services, including the internet. We must not only focus on implementing state-of-the-art technology, but ensuring all of CALS is equipped with the infrastructure and support that provides basic technology needs.

We will work in the coming years to better integrate as a college, accelerate how we partner and work with others across NC State, the UNC system and beyond, improve any processes that hold us back from achieving our vision and build more nimble operating models that enable us to keep pace with the rapidly changing dynamics of both higher education and the industries, communities and families we serve. The end result will be a more streamlined, effective, efficient and impactful experience we deliver to all those we serve and maximum impact in all we do to achieve our mission.

GOAL 1.3.1: ENHANCE THE REACH, SCALE AND IMPACT OF CALS COMMUNICATIONS

Key Initiative 1: Develop a strategic communications plan for internal stakeholders, external partners and stakeholders and the general public

Key Initiative 2: Define a new shared-resource organizational structure for leveraging communication resources across CALS

Key Initiative 3: Collaborate with IT to identify and/or build communication platforms that facilitate the most efficient and effective communications

KEY INITIATIVES

Key Initiative 1: Conduct an efficiency study of all administrative programs, processes and IT systems, and monitor over time via dedicated function within CALS

Key Initiative 2: Implement a shared-resource model for business operations and expand administrative support resources, including through the implementation of user-friendly business operations processes and IT systems

Key Initiative 3: Form a regional taskforce of higher education institutions to facilitate knowledge and resource sharing, collaboration and cooperative programs

Key Initiative 4: Develop a plan that focuses on implementing state-of-the-art technology across all operating locations, equipping areas lacking basic technology with essential technology and providing enhanced support and training resources that extend beyond Main Campus

SUCCESS METRICS

• Total reach, impressions, and engagement rates associated with CALS communications • End user satisfaction survey results • Key system, process and workflow efficiency rates (e.g., contract and grant proposal submission times) • Research, teaching and Extension throughput as a result of efficiency measures

WOLFPACK 2030 ALIGNMENT

• Goal 5: Improve university effectiveness through transformative technologies, cutting-edge processes and actionable data • Goal 6: Lead in developing innovative partnerships, entrepreneurial thinking and applied problem-solving

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1.4:

Create a Career-Ready Workforce

The industries we serve at CALS have long been some of North Carolina’s most dominant and productive, helping our state carry an outsized impact around the world in how we address some of our most pressing global challenges, including and especially those within our state. This is true across all facets of our college, whether it involves educating students on new methods and innovations, conducting leading research or working directly with residents, families, businesses and communities.

Increasingly, however, as the lines between higher education and the world around us continue to blur, our students are experiencing similarly shifting demands for skills and new types of work environments they are now entering. In addition to being educators, we are workforce developers operating on the front line of connecting eager students with professions where they can be successful, and to employers who will benefit from well-equipped employees.

This means that in addition to instilling essential baseline technical skills, we must also invest in the professional skills of students—from communication to leadership—that elevate an individual well beyond their technical competency and position them for lifelong success in their careers, professions and communities. We train leaders who will make an impact and develop in them the many skills that will contribute to their future success through myriad high-impact practices, such as internships, organizational leadership, and many more, both in and outside of the classroom.

In a 2021 survey, CALS students overwhelmingly identified the need for additional career service offerings and a desire for more opportunities to interact and form connections with industry and alumni. We must also serve as a strategic bridge to these careers, proactively working with employers to understand real-time demands for skills and competencies, bringing these employers to the table through expanded career services programming and facilitating interactions between students and prospective employers through strategies like mentorship and internship programs that foster working relationships that transcend a student’s time at CALS.

We will accomplish this priority by fully leveraging the breadth and scale of our CALS community, recognizing the significant presence we have around the world through alumni, research partnerships, county partners and general CALS supporters. Through this community, we will work intentionally to position CALS as a leader in educating, equipping and placing our graduates in meaningful careers and lives that help advance the impact we seek to have on our state and world. This sentiment does not end only with recent graduates; our focus is to build a workforce that is not only careerready but career-minded, with CALS alumni setting the bar for rising to positions of prominence, influence and impact.

GOAL 1.4.1: EXPAND CALS CAREER SERVICES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

KEY INITIATIVES

Key Initiative 1: Expand and coordinate co-curricular high-impact practices to help equip students at all levels with the skills that best support their career goals and needs and help them make a positive impact in their careers, professions and communities

Key Initiative 2: Develop employer roundtables and structures for identifying real-time employer needs and recommendations for aligning CALS curricula or programming accordingly

Key Initiative 3: Expand curricula or continuing education programming for nontraditional students

GOAL 1.4.2: FORM MEANINGFUL, LONGLASTING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CALS STUDENTS AND THE BROADER CALS COMMUNITY

KEY INITIATIVES

Key Initiative 1: Implement alumni engagement program to connect incoming and current students with CALS alumni

Key Initiative 2: Expand and coordinate mentorship and internship programs to place CALS students with industry or community partners

SUCCESS METRICS

• Placement of CALS recent graduates into full-time employment • Average compensation of CALS graduates • Long-term placement of CALS graduates in leadership roles • Employer survey satisfaction rates • CALS alumni satisfaction rates • Student high-impact practice participation rate

WOLFPACK 2030 ALIGNMENT

• Goal 1: Empower students for a lifetime of success and impact • Goal 6: Lead in developing innovative partnerships, entrepreneurial thinking and applied problem-solving • Goal 7: Elevate the national and global reputation and visibility of NC State