Priority 1: Educate and Empower a Dynamic Student Body

We will...

• Engage students earlier in high school through coordinated personal, digital and print campaigns designed to increase interest in Davis College.
• Focus on recruiting high-achieving students from the region and beyond through scholarships and information about high-impact learning and career opportunities.
• Expand the breadth of the student base. We will maintain and expand our recruiting to traditional rural and suburban students in our region and will also expand recruiting efforts to non-traditional urban areas as well as build on recruiting successes in key areas around the state and nation.

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase the number of emails and mail sent to unique students, by senior/junior and freshmen/sophomore class level, and by high-achieving status.
• Increase the number of responsive/secondary contacts by class level and high-achieving status (and collect data for assessment).
• Increase the number and location of High School class visits made, by class topic and class level.
• Increase the numbers of scholarship offers and acceptance by class level and high-achieving status. Increase the lower limit of scholarship offers to $1,000 per scholarship over the next five years.
• Number and location of HS class visits made, by class topic and class level; Demographics of new enrolling students by urban/rural, out-of-state, etc.

High-Impact Practices

• Personalized letters, phone calls, and email communications to high-performing students, including student leaders in organizations like FFA, 4-H, and UIL academic winners.
• Academic Information Sessions, VIP campus tour organization and delivery, and use of scholarship monies in recruiting high-performing students.
• Personalized visits to regional high schools to speak with classes of target students, counselors, and teachers; development of high-quality video content for web-based delivery and distribution highlighting student life, career success, and experiential learning activities on campus.
• Attendance at multiple high value recruiting events, both regionally and nationally, including TACRAO events, FFA events, HLSR, etc.
• Develop recruitment gifts for high-achieving students to compete with in-state rival schools.

Highlighted Initiatives

• Restructuring of recruitment activities to ensure adequate coverage on and off campus; linking strategic marketing and communications team with recruitment to develop high quality content.
• Enhance scholarship programs to be more proactive in recruitment rather than reactive to existing student performance where appropriate and possible based on gift agreements.
• Three-pronged recruiting approach over next 5 years:
  • 1) Strengthen relationships with rural students and ag teachers
  • 2) Visit business, design, biology and other classes in addition to ag classes in urban and rural high schools
  • 3) Expand our presence and efforts in previously lightly-recruited areas: Rio Grande Valley, California, Colorado, etc.

We will...

• Promote and enhance competitive team and student organization opportunities that lead to greater teamwork and a sense of community within Davis College.
• Build and implement a college-wide internship program that promotes consistency in experience across the college and enhances career pathways for students.
• Foster creative activity and student research. Build "Prime" students through organized research and creative activities that lead to a “Prime Honors” certification program that rewards students through recognition and scholarships for outstanding performance.

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase student participation in events and student orgs; goal of at least 50% of students participating in a competitive team, student event, or student organization by graduation.
• Increase student participation in, and quality experience during, internship experiences by 40%.
• Increase student experience in experiential learning and undergraduate research by 40%.

High-Impact Practices

• Actively promote a sense of community through activities such as AgFest and Camp GROW that link students with organizations and teams as they integrate into Davis College.
• Promote and support the development of international study abroad opportunities through the college through development funding; target funding and scholarship opportunities to support student participation.
• Increase student access to and participation in internships through targeted efforts.
• Promote and fund undergraduate research and creative opportunities.

Highlighted Initiatives

• AgFest and Camp GROW initiatives that focus on student involvement and community
• Study abroad summer development program funding
• Davis College undergraduate research funding program
• New assistant director of recruitment and career development, highlighting the comprehensive “career superhighway” approach to supporting and developing students from recruitment through career.
• Developing a defined, dedicated certificate program for “Prime Honors” that encourages student involvement in research, internships and study abroad activities.

We will...

• Create and foster a culture around the scholarship of teaching.
• Fully utilize campus resources such as the Teaching, Learning and Professional Development Center (TLPDC) at Texas Tech and encourage the use of professional development within each faculty’s professional association.
• Encourage greater participation by Davis College faculty in Texas Tech’s Teaching Academy.
• Train students in the ethical and effective usage of A.I. models and resources to maximize effectiveness and productivity.

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase faculty teaching academy membership, participation in teaching development trainings, and production of scholarly articles on engaged teaching or scholarship of teaching by 20%.
• Increase faculty participation in TLPDC workshops.
• Increase faculty and class inclusion of AI training.

High-Impact Practices

• College-wide promotion and training for “scholarship of teaching” activities.
• Incorporating and enhancing “culture of teaching” into our new faculty “Faculty Fellows” programming; increasing the amount of teaching-related focused activities in college-wide programs and events.
• Increasing training opportunities for incorporating AI into classroom instruction; developing “best practices” guides at the college level.

Highlighted Initiatives

• Faculty Fellows program
• Organizing training events, webinars, and guides for scholarship of teaching activities.

We will...

• Ensure that university core courses taught in Davis College are also offered in the TTU Online program in the 8-week format.
• Develop a fully online “Integrated Agricultural Systems” degree by the college in the 8-week TTU Online format.
• Expand online courses and programs thoughtfully that do not compromise rigor and are consistent with the learning outcome standards of traditional face-to-face offerings.
• Explore and implement micro-credentialing/certification programs, especially at the graduate/industry level.

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase enrollment and SCH for online courses by 20%.
• Creation, enrollment, and SCH in "Integrated Agricultural Systems" degree.
• Increase enrollment and SCH in certificate programs, especially online.

High-Impact Practices

• Identify and create 8-week format courses for all TTU core courses offered in Davis College.
• Departmental review and recommendation of learning outcomes of courses; identify courses suited to the 8-week format; do not compromise quality of instruction.
• Identify and balance resources to ensure that campus instructional outcomes are not compromised by the development of online programming.

Highlighted Initiatives

• Summer teaching development program funds partial faculty salary in return for developing 8-week online courses.
• Davis College online teaching specialist works directly with faculty to increase online teaching effectiveness.

We will...

• Collect and collate data on job opportunities, educational requirements, and examples of successful alumni in different fields. Linking alumni with students either directly (internships, fairs, industry roundtables, interviews, etc.) or indirectly (e.g., digital media) will help inform students of the wealth of career opportunities that exist.
• Advise students about and promote opportunities for graduate and professional schools beyond their undergraduate careers.
• Utilize programmatic offerings such as the Matador Institute for Leadership Engagement (MILE), the Agricultural and Resource Policy Advocacy Program, the Excellence in Agricultural Finance (EIAF) Program, and the Davis College Congressional Internship Program to promote careers through academic engagement and leadership.

Key Performance Indicators

• Build and offer a database of career pathways, with examples from alumni.
• Increase student participation in the Davis College career fair to 1,100 per year.
• Increase student participation in events promoting graduate and professional school.
• Student application, participation, and outcomes for these programs.

High-Impact Practices

• Active recruitment and promotion of career interactions such as the Integrated Research and Innovation Summit, MILE program, Congressional Internships, Excellence in Agricultural Finance certificate program, and the Ag and Natural Resource Policy Advocacy program.
• The “Career Highways” program that links students through recruitment to internships and experiential opportunities to careers and alumni.
• Creation and promotion of events that directly connect students with industry professionals and representatives, increasing collaborative opportunities between students and industry.

Highlighted Initiatives

• “Career Highways” program
• College-wide certification programs

We will...

• Identify student issues and intervene early. 
• Ensure that students are progressing toward graduation in a timely manner.

Key Performance Indicators

• Identify and evaluate the number, reasons and outcomes for retention visits.
• Maintain and increase first-year retention rates beyond the University goal of 90% and exceed the University retention rates for three and six years.
• Achieve a four-year graduate rate of 55% and exceed the University goal of a six-year graduation rate of 70%.

High-Impact Practices

• The Bill Bennett Student Success Center operates a robust intervention program; strengthen that program with more direct contacts through Camp GROW and early warning programs.
• Two members of the SSC are certified Mental Wellness First Aid instructors and offer classes in mental wellness during the academic year.
• Conduct student satisfaction surveys and exit surveys to identify improvements in student experience.
• Enhance academic advising across the college with a focus on timely completion of degree requirements.

Highlighted Initiatives

• Expansion of student advising programs in the college so that every department has one or more academic advisors to assist students in course planning, etc.
• Beginning in Fall 2025, Davis College initiated a “1st Year Camp”, called “Camp GROW”. This camp focused on mental health wellness, college readiness, and 1st year success, and was offered to all 1st year incoming students.