Strategic plan

Summary of goals

Within the context of WSU’s urban mission, the Department of Psychology strives to:

1. Provide innovative teaching to enhance our undergraduate and graduate education to equip students with knowledge and skills relevant to their personal, intellectual and career goals.
2. Provide excellence in research via resources and opportunities to bolster research productivity and communicate research impact to university and community members.
3. Provide outreach and engagement for successful partnerships and new initiatives in the city of Detroit and our community.
4. Refine departmental practices and policies that promote inclusion, transparency and participation.
5. Create operational excellence via a fair/equitable and transparent workload policy.

Procedure of strategic plan implementation

Each of the goals above is listed and addressed with sub-goals and proposed steps. Responsibility for mapping out the timelines and specific criteria for achieving each proposed step is assigned to the groups/individuals listed in italics after each step.

Goal 1

Provide innovative teaching to enhance our undergraduate and graduate education to equip students with knowledge, skills and networks relevant to their personal, intellectual and career goals.

Strategies for accomplishing goal

Undergraduate

1. Evaluate and update the undergraduate curriculum.  
2. Increase student engagement within the department – with the advising program, the faculty and with fellow students. 
3. Increase awareness of and prepare students for, career opportunities.  
4. Strengthen faculty governance, resource-sharing and development to enhance the quality of undergraduate education. 

Graduate

Create an environment in which graduate students can thrive personally and professionally (strengthen graduate programs to prepare students for academic and applied careers).

Goal 2

Provide excellence in research via resources and opportunities to bolster research productivity and impact and communicate research activities to university and community members.

Strategies for accomplishing goal

1. Help faculty members maximize their research productivity at all stages of their careers.
2. Help faculty improve chances of securing internal and external funding.
3. Develop and promote opportunities for departmental faculty collaboration.
4. Enhance dissemination of research accomplishments and accolades.

Goal 3

Provide outreach and engagement for successful partnerships and new initiatives in the city of Detroit and our community.

Strategies for accomplishing goal

1. Ensure that our students are placed in successful partnerships within the university, city of Detroit and surrounding cities (including both volunteer and paid positions).
2. Provide resources to the Psychology Clinic to ensure that outreach and engagement in the community continue and improve.

Goal 4

Inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism (IDEA): Refine departmental practices and policies that promote inclusion, transparency and participation. The psychology department is committed to exemplifying inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism in all we do.

Strategies for accomplishing goal

1. Infuse IDEA values and initiatives across all areas of the department to create a sense of belonging and acceptance for all faculty, staff and students.
2. Broaden academic curricula, class offerings and course content to include IDEA perspectives.
3. Support/ encourage active participation of faculty, staff and students in the department’s IDEA committee. 
4. Build a realistic and positive system of accountability and restorative justice.

Goal 5

Create operational excellence via a fair/equitable and transparent workload policy (in prior strategic plan: refine departmental practices and policies that promote inclusion, transparency and participation):

Strategies for accomplishing goal

1. Make hidden work activities (recommendation letters) an expected part of the three-year summary.
2. Make visible the information about faculty service and teaching activities for all department faculty.
3. Revise workload policy.

November 15, 2024