HHS Strategic Vision

The HHS Strategic Plan revolves around seven aspirational strategic themes:

• Build and maintain a climate of diversity, equity and inclusion
• Attract and retain the best talent and to develop leaders in health and human sciences
• Advance research to improve health, relationships, communities and quality of life
• Enrich the residential student experience to enable graduates to excel in careers
• Create online programs
• Engage locally, nationally, globally and sustainably to improve health and human functioning
• Create a culture of philanthropy and alumni engagement

Our people, academic programs, research and engagement efforts will focus on the following areas, all in the service of improving human health and quality of life.

Developmental Health and Wellness: The College of Health and Human Sciences promotes optimal development across the lifespan. We aim to help all individuals thrive physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually, environmentally, occupationally, financially and cognitively. For example:

• Understanding how biological, behavioral, social and environmental factors protect or threaten health and mitigate or contribute to risk for adverse clinical outcomes.
• Identifying how families can support healthy development, resilience, disease prevention and mental health.
• Designing and evaluating the efficacy of interventions for children with developmental, behavioral and communication disorders, and advancing methods for ensuring effective education of children and adolescents.
• Determining how relationships can foster optimal development across the lifespan.

Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity: We promote optimal aging, including prevention of chronic disease and disability, the treatment of diseases of aging, caring for individuals with chronic disease and disability, and enhancing quality of life. We develop new technologies, therapies and applications to enhance healthy aging, well-being, relationships and longevity in all communities and in the workplace. We seek to understand how lifestyle, dietary and environmental choices impact health and longevity. For example:

• Promoting healthy lifestyles, preventive/protective health-enhancing strategies, and treatment for infectious and chronic diseases and age-related disabilities and conditions.
• Establishing how environmental, recreational, occupational or behavioral exposures may influence or cause disability or disease.
• Defining genetic and biologic mechanisms of neurological disease and diseases of aging, along with underlying social, cultural and structural determinants of disease onset and progression.
• Understanding the impact of infectious and chronic disease, neurologic injuries and military service on the long-term health of individuals and families, including mental health.

Sustainable and Thriving Communities and Organizations: We focus on encouraging sustainable and thriving organizations and communities, locally and globally. We seek to reduce health and wealth disparities, support the development of diverse and inclusive communities, and ensure the long-term health of the environment. We foster hospitality, inclusion and resilience among all individuals and communities from all backgrounds. For example:

• Establishing methods to reduce social biases, food insecurity, systemic inequalities and health disparities and their consequences.
• Detecting and countering risk and mechanisms for infectious disease spread in local and global contexts.
• Ensuring sustainable, accessible, high quality and cost-effective healthcare organizations and systems of care.
• Determining and disseminating methods for sustainable protection of the earth’s environment, with special emphasis on tourism and food policies and practices.
• Promoting the adoption of policies and practices that support healthy lifestyles within Indiana, the United States and globally.

We will measure our success in the following ways:

1. Climate surveys to assess belonging, regular attention in all courses to fostering inclusion and belonging, number of courses that integrate diversity and inclusion and number of faculty and students who apply their research expertise to diversity and inclusion.
2. Numbers of URM students, staff and faculty in HHS.
3. Applications, yield, retention and graduation rates for all students; student satisfaction surveys; number of career fairs held and number of employers hosted; pass rates for licensure exams; and post-graduation placement rates.
4. Faculty and staff retention, satisfaction surveys, faculty success at attracting external funding, tenure and promotion rates, publication rates, and awards.
5. Staff retention and promotions, number of MaPSAC professional development applications received and awarded, number of HHS professional development grant applications received and awarded, and survey regarding mentor program and number of participants.
6. Training grant submissions and number of students and post-docs supported by external funds.
7. Number of grants submitted with more than one unit involved, number of faculty in signature areas and number of faculty recognized for interdisciplinary engagement.
8. Number and dollar amounts of research grants submitted and awarded and annual research expenditures.
9. Number of undergraduates involved in research and co-authors on presentations and publications.
10. Number of graduate students who author or co-author papers or presentations for professional meetings and number of graduate students whose presentations or papers receive recognition or awards from professional organizations.
11. Number of externally funded training and fellowship grants and graduate and post-doctoral fellow job placements and tenure status.
12. Media placement metrics, citations of HHS faculty publications and number of national and international awards to faculty.
13. Online program growth in courses, programs and faculty offering online content.
14. Stakeholder awareness of engagement programs and impact of engagement efforts on health and quality of life.
15. Percent of current students and alumni who stay connected to HHS by engaging with or opening mailings, participating in events, connecting with students and making gifts/donations to HHS.