MISSION
As a department in a Doctoral/Research Extensive University, our mission is to pursue excellence in fundamental and applied research in the Earth Sciences, sustain quality in undergraduate and graduate education, and provide outreach and service to ensure the application of our scholarship for the benefit of society and the environment. The Department is committed to maintaining a diversity of specialties to provide broad-based undergraduate and graduate curricula in the geosciences. We value all our core programs and will take advantage of special initiatives that fit with our mission to advance those programs as opportunities arise.

RESEARCH AREAS
The Department of Geology and Geophysics has 21 full-time faculty members with broad research interests in several nationally important and interrelated core areas. These areas include Fluids in the Earth’s Crust; Geochemistry; Geophysics and Tectonics; Paleontology, Paleocology, and Geomicrobiology; Petrology, Mineralogy, and Materials Science; Surficial Processes and the Stratigraphic Record.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Through achieving the following objectives, we will strive to be a Department that is greater than the sum of its individual faculty, students, staff, facilities, and programs.

Objective 1 — Enhance the stature of the Department at local, regional, national, and international levels.
A vibrant department is more than a collection of strong individual faculty. For our ranking among geology departments to rise, total national grant and contract funding for the department must increase substantially. In addition, strong collaborative and interdisciplinary research is critical to achieving our goals.

Actions:
1. Faculty will increase efforts to obtain national peer-reviewed research grants.
2. The Department will plan for optimal use of departmental resources and personnel.
3. The Department will promote collaborations within and outside of the Department and University.
4. The Department will foster joint grant-writing efforts for research, education, and instrumentation.
5. The Department will use its resources and University matching funds strategically.
6. Faculty will include graduate student and postdoctoral fellow funding in grant proposals.
7. The Department will enhance advertising of its research programs.
8. The Department will communicate its achievements locally, regionally, and nationally.
9. The Department will support and encourage the nomination of faculty for university and national awards.

Outcomes:
• NRC and other rankings for the department will be well within the second quartile by 2010.
• Increased federal funding for research and students.
• Increased university, regional, national, and international recognition.

Objective 2 – Enhance the scholarship of individual faculty
A department’s faculty drives its research programs; develops, plans, and implements its
curricula; and creates the unit’s culture. Therefore, enhancing the scholarship of individual
faculty members has a direct effect on achieving Objective 1. Goals for individual faculty should
center on building on their scholarship and developing the professional scholarship in their
students, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows.

Actions:
1. Faculty will publish in the highest quality journals.
2. Faculty will increase efforts to develop new, and continue successful, innovative research initiatives.
3. Faculty will continue to recruit and train excellent undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellows in their research groups.
4. Faculty will serve as editors of national and internationally recognized journals.
5. Faculty will serve as officers and committee members on national and international professional societies, and will organize theme sessions at national meetings.
6. The Department will mentor junior faculty.
7. The Department’s reward structure will promote these activities.

Outcomes:
• Wider dissemination of fundamental and applied research results of individual faculty and the research teams they lead.
• Increased funding for the research of each faculty member, their students, and their postdoctoral fellows.
• Increased success of alumni and postdoctoral fellows in industry, government, and academia.
• National and international recognition of faculty through their service to the profession and to society.
• Increased university-wide perception, state-wide recognition, and national and international prominence of faculty members.

Objective 3 — Improve and expand Departmental Programs
The Department must develop new and improve existing programs that:
(1) are of major importance in the Earth sciences,
(2) support our academic mission,
(3) provide expertise to government and industry, and
(4) address needs and opportunities that arise from our geographic location. These developments will only be possible through the effective use of faculty positions created through retirement, through private endowments, and through research initiatives. In addition, Department-wide initiatives must be explored, and interactions between the Department and other LSU research groups must be strengthened to address emerging interdisciplinary fields.

Outcomes:
• A larger faculty who excel in research, teaching and service.
• Stronger teaching and research programs within the Department.
• Active new interdisciplinary research programs.

Actions:
1. The Department will have a programmatically varied and predictable course schedule.
2. The Department will attract more high-quality high school students to Geology through increased recruiting and use of the Freshman Geology Field Camp. The Department also will attract more high quality undergraduates to Geology by using excellent full-time faculty in general education sections.
3. The Department will increase, and use strategically, scholarships and diversity grants for undergraduate students.
4. The Faculty will continue to review the undergraduate curriculum, including the role of Field Camp (GEOL 3666), course requirements, and integration of content among courses. The Faculty also will increase mentoring and research opportunities for undergraduate students.
5. The Faculty will further expand individual and Departmental recruiting efforts to attract a larger number of high quality M.S. and especially Ph.D. students.
6. The Faculty will review the Ph.D. curriculum to ensure that students build a research expertise, develop a broad knowledge of the geosciences, and enhance their writing and research skills. The Faculty will review the M.S. curriculum for opportunities to enhance student’s writing, scientific thinking, and research skills.
7. The Department will increase the number of graduate assistantships and fellowships through grant funding by individual faculty, Department-wide initiatives, and Departmental fund raising.
8. The Department requests that the University add support for additional teaching assistants, and increase stipend levels for both M.S. and Ph.D. students to a nationally competitive level.

Outcomes:
• The competitiveness of our degree programs will increase.
• Undergraduate to faculty ratio increases to 4/1 by 2010.
• Graduate student to faculty ratio increases to 3/1 by 2010.
• Double the number of research assistantships by Fall 2007.
• Most Ph.D. students supported by fellowships, research grants, or industry contracts by Fall 2008.
• Additional scholarship and diversity initiatives like that currently funded by NSF (Ferrell et al., $1.2 million) to increase minority participation in our M.S. and Ph.D. programs.
• Continued industry support of the ADG Program to increase funding for research and student support, as well as enhance recruiting and the national visibility of our M.S. and Ph.D. programs.
• Students, especially Ph.D. students, will have increasingly diverse career paths that include academia, government, and industry.
• The number of teaching assistants will increase.

Actions:
1. The Department will update its inventory of Departmental laboratory facilities.
2. The Department will assess the technical staff support needs of Department’s present research and teaching programs and the degree to which the present allocation of resources satisfies these needs.
3. The Department will develop a plan and priorities for funding future instrumentation and equipment purchases, research infrastructure upgrades, and technical support staff.
4. As a Department, the Faculty will work to secure funding from a variety of sources (funding agencies, Departmental and University matching funds, capital gifts) for high priority equipment needs.
5. The Department will establish endowments for the maintenance and staffing of Departmental labs.
6. The Department will promote partnerships with other units on campus, such as CAMD, CCT, Oceanography and Coastal Studies, Geography and Anthropology, Petroleum Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, and Biological Sciences, to secure high-cost technology.

Outcomes:
• Successful funding of at least two initiatives for major instrumentation by using a variety of funding sources and a unified Departmental effort by 2010.
• Continuously updated and new research facilities to support the Department’s research and teaching efforts.
• Increased Departmental and Interdepartmental research collaboration.
• Increased number of and compensation for research staff.

Objective 6 — Improve Alumni and Corporate Relations
Enhancing relationships with alumni and industry furthers many departmental goals, including recruiting, fund raising, and job placement. At present our alumni and our petroleum industry affiliations are a major resource for our academic and research missions and we plan to strengthen those ties. We also plan to establish ties with environmental and other industries employing geologists.

Actions:
1. The Department will improve communication with alumni through annual newsletters, periodic letters from the Chair, an alumni webpage and email list, phone calls from students, and social functions at national and regional meetings.
2. The Department will continue to expand the alumni database.
3. The Department will explore restructuring the Alumni Advisory Council, and will meet with them at least once a year to ensure that the council becomes and remains active in support of the Department’s goals.
4. The Department will enhance communications with industry representatives.
5. The Department will work to increase the recruiting presence of industrial companies at LSU.
6. The Department will encourage support of student research by industry, using initiatives such as ADG. These initiatives will include fellowships, research assistantships, research support (including funds for field support and/or datasets), internships, etc.

Outcomes:
• Alumni and Industry will be aware of the current activities of students and faculty.
• Alumni and Industry will be aware of the Department’s needs and will assist in addressing those needs.
• A greater proportion of alumni will contribute annually to the Department.

Objective 7 —Fund raising
Highly ranked national programs have major endowments that allow them to recruit and retain the best faculty and students, provide an appealing environment for research and scholarship, and provide start-up and equipment funding to attract and retain excellent faculty. The Department’s strong relationship with alumni and industry provides it with funding opportunities available to very few other departments. Departmental faculty, the Chair, and other administrators at LSU must make every effort to enhance these relationships.

Actions:
1. The Department will work to establish campaigns for capital gifts to assist in the development of Departmental laboratory and computer facilities.
2. The Department will work to establish Departmental endowment(s) to provide funding for Departmental postdoctoral fellows, for maintenance and staff support of major laboratory facilities, enhance the value of endowed chairs and professorships, major fellowships for graduate students, scholarships, and unrestricted funds for general Departmental needs.
3. The Department will work to increase the endowment to host outside speakers.
4. The Department will work to increase Field Camp support to include additional funding for camp operation, renovation, undergraduate scholarships, and salaries.
5. The Department will work with donors to complete the capital campaign for the AASP Chair endowment.

Outcomes:
• More competitive stipends and scholarships that can be used to recruit exceptional undergraduate and graduate students.
• Increased support for Field Camp and other components of undergraduate, Masters, and Ph.D. curricula.
• Enhanced and well-staffed laboratory facilities for student and faculty use.
• Increased ability for the Department to provide matching funds for extramural grants and contracts.
• Recruitment and retention of internationally renowned faculty to the Department.

Objective 8 – Enhance the intellectual and collegial atmosphere of the department
The Department of Geology & Geophysics strives to be greater than the sum of its individual faculty, students, staff, facilities, and programs. Achieving this synergy requires a strong intellectual and collegial atmosphere. Addressing this objective will increase our ability to accomplish our mission.

Actions:
1. The Chair will formalize regular Departmental planning efforts that include information on Departmental resources and commitments.
2. The Chair will enhance communication within the Department through regularly scheduled faculty meetings and email communication.
3. The Faculty will diligently strive to complete committee assignments and define individual actions to achieve Departmental goals outlined in this document.
4. The Department will sponsor weekly seminars that include presentations by Departmental faculty and students, other LSU faculty, and prominent scientists from other institutions.
5. The Geology students will establish an informal brown-bag lecture series for the Department.
6. The Department will provide additional occasions for interaction among faculty, staff, and students.

Outcomes:
• A vibrant department with strong research, teaching and service programs.
• A stimulating environment for students and faculty to pursue scholarly achievement.
• Enhanced recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students.