Mission Vision and Goals

Geoscience 2018-2022 Strategic Plan

Mission

The Department of Geosciences at Boise State University creates and disseminates knowledge about Earth’s processes and properties for students, scientists, and the public to help create a scientifically informed community. We provide high quality educational opportunities for students seeking PhD, MS, and BS degrees in core strength areas within Geosciences, and bring earth science principles to the foundational education mission of the university. In all programs, we enable students to discover and develop relevant knowledge and skillsets so that they can achieve their professional goals and pursue solutions to resource and environmental challenges facing the state, nation, and world. We welcome motivated individuals who are passionate about science, value diversity and tolerance, and believe in wise stewardship of our planet through critical thinking and dialogue.

Vision

The Department of Geosciences adopts as its goal for 2018-2022 to become a nationally recognized leader in integrating research excellence and education in geosciences. In research, we strive to sustain and grow a resource platform that continues to enable our scientists to contribute at high levels to internationally significant research problems in Geosciences. In education, we strive to provide students with opportunities to discover and develop relevant knowledge and skill sets that will enable them to achieve their professional goals. We believe that creative integration of research with education will promote excellence in both. We will build graduate programs that provide students with opportunities equal to the top 25 Geoscience graduate program in the nation, we will create undergraduate programs that attract students to Boise State from across the state and nation and prepares them for professional careers, and we will become a significant component of foundational education at Boise State University. To achieve this vision we will pursue five strategic directions below.

Strategic Directions

1. Create a department identity that promotes core and emerging strengths
2. Empower innovative and globally significant geoscience research
3. Create modern and societally relevant geoscience research and education programs
4. Build a diverse, sustainable population of students in all degree programs
5. Develop a faculty, staff, and administrative structure equivalent to top tier PhD granting institutions