Objectives

• Promote faculty success

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Increase staff: faculty ratios Increase faculty diversity Grow endowed funding for SoS initiatives Increase research funds for faculty	Over the past three years (2023-2026), CNAS has hired more than 70 faculty members while increasing staff positions from 267 to 281.
  Expand and improve teaching facilities	Physics building laboratory renovated for use as an additional instructional laboratory.
  Support ongoing renovation of research facilities	Repurposed a $4M investment in Plant Research Facility 1 to make all plant growth rooms available to any species of plant.
  Modern teaching facilities	Scheduled to open for Fall 2026 instruction, the Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Facility (UTLF) adds more than 100,000 square feet of modern instructional space, including state-of-the-art teaching laboratories and active-learning environments.
  Multi-college interdisciplinary collaboration	Faculty confronting challenges of the agriculture industry

• Promote staff success

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Frequently assess work environment (remote/in-person/hybrid) Promote professional development Increase staff diversity	Embedded Contracts & Grants trainees directly within operational units, where they gain practical experience managing active research portfolios and sponsored projects
  Provide budgeting and forecasting tools to units	Launched Caspio, a tool to help customize and combine data sources for streamline management.
  Invest in strategic hiring

• Create robust financial support

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Increase number of graduate student training grants Increase number of graduate fellowships	New funds established for student support in FY26: Jeanne Barnhill Jones Graduate Student Endowed Fund (Grad) William Doub RISE Scholars Fund (UG), Harpal Arora and Nathaniel Coleman Endowed Graduate Student Award Fund (Grad).
  Grow extramural funding
  Increase summer session offerings and enrollment	Launched the CNAS Summer Science Symposium bringing RUSD teachers to campus and learn about current CNAS research. Increased number of CNAS tours to local elementary, middle and high school students

• Increase number of MS students

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Increase number of students in MS programs Increase number of MS programs, including 4+1 BS/MS programs Create work-flexible MS programs (e.g., remote, PT, weekends)	Total enrollment in MS programs has increased from 79 in 2023 to 116 in 2025.

• Increase number of PhD students and support success

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Engage faculty in recruitment, admissions best practices Support best practices in mentoring and networking	We were successful in growing the number of PhD students in the previous two years, but this year (2025), we cut the recruitment number by approximately 15%.

• Improve graduation rates and time to degree

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Build advising capacity Course offerings facilitate degree progression	Expanded degree opportunities with new GNBT major going live in Fall 2026

• Improve student success and persistence in STEM

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Expand high impact experiences Integrate inclusive practices and pedagogies Improve retention in CNAS majors	Partnered with more community colleges and other institutions as part of the RISE program

• Enhance student diversity

  INITIATIVES	PROGRESS
  Identify and reduce barriers and equity gaps  Grow NR enrollment  Pipelines for transfer students	Planned and executed three roundtable sessions as part of the OASIS grant to establish pipelines for transfer students aligned with agriculture and agriculture-related majors Increased participation in new outreach opportunities such as the Future Farmers of America statewide conference