Undergraduate

Goal 1: Recruitment

Recruitment: Increase representation of undergraduates with a wide variety of lived experiences.

Vision of where we want to be in 5 years: Sustained growth in degrees awarded to students with a wide variety of lived experiences.

Action 1: Targeted outreach to high school students with a wide variety of lived experiences
Action 2: Ensure social media usage is consistent with department values and priorities and accessible to individuals with a wide variety of lived experiences
Action 3: Develop or partner with neighbor departments for pre-college workshops & programs (could include reviving GRASP and ASPIRE)
Action 4: Send physics department members to Columbus State to recruit, and build relationships with faculty there
Action 5: Participate in events focused on Columbus State students transferring to OSU
Action 6: Recruit from OSU campus change students
Action 7: Play a more active role in recruiting undergraduates to OSU
Action 8: Actively recruit from STEM majors when they’re already on campus

Goal 2: Fair and Transparent

Fair and Transparent: Create a fair and transparent environment in classes and the major/minor.

Vision of where we want to be in 5 years: All students feel welcome and treated fairly in the undergraduate physics programs, and feel appropriately challenged in their courses .

Action 1: Incorporate evidence-based practices into courses at all levels.
Action 2: Include professional development on working together in groups and respectful interactions in classes.
Action 3: Appropriately align and scaffold skills (math, computation, writing, estimation) and physics content throughout the curriculum
Action 4: Develop well-defined goals and learning outcomes for all classes
Action 5: Create a culture of continuous improvement in classes
Action 6: Facilitate graduation from the program in a reasonable amount of time for students with different backgrounds in math
Action 7: Use special assignments and course redevelopment resources for curriculum updates on a regular basis
Action 8: Revisit staffing models for courses, and develop formal structures for handoffs of classes among instructors
Action 9: Have transparent grading criteria, and standardize grading across major courses
Action 10: Keep a regular schedule of electives
Action 11: Provide more tutoring/TA support for upper-division classes
Action 12: Organize an annual networking event; invite other associations, organizations, business owners, alumni, or employers.
Action 13: Regularly share funding opportunities.
Action 14: Organize symposiums or conferences inviting physicists with a wide variety of lived experiences.
Action 15: Make colloquia accessible to undergraduates, with speakers representing a wide variety of lived experiences.
Action 16: Highlight and recognize contributions to physics from individuals with a wide variety of lived experiences.

Goal 3: Community

Community: Build a welcoming community of physics undergraduates.

Vision of where we want to be in 5 years: Undergraduates feel like they are valued and supported members of the physics community and feel physically and psychologically safe in OSU physics contexts.

Action 1: Increase community building efforts, including facilitating the creation of other organizations or clubs to support undergraduates with a wide vaiety of lived experiences.
Action 2: Organize fairs or cultural events including a regular focus on international students.
Action 3: Work in coordination with SLDS to ensure our faculty accommodates students with disabilities.
Action 4: Generate/advertise a system to receive periodic, confidential feedback from students, and attend to differences in feedback across lived experiences.
Action 5: Build/expand formal mentoring programs
Action 6: Educate about the code of conduct, and invite students into a triannual revision process, with the goal of having students feel physically and psychologically safe

Goal 4: Careers

Careers: Prepare students for a variety of career pathways after graduation, supporting and providing access to outside-of-class professional development opportunities (research, teaching, outreach, service).

Vision of where we want to be in 5 years: Students are well-informed about career paths, and are utilizing resources to prepare them for their chosen path(s).

Action 1: Create a variety of ways for students to get paid to do physics (in addition to research, consider an LA program, paying students for committee work)
Action 2: Increase access to research opportunities, to reduce the burden on students to find research groups (can also include help on applying to internships and REU programs)
Action 3: Provide travel support, including to professional development and community building conferences.
Action 4: Organize events where we can invite different organizations or other OSU graduate programs to share physics related opportunities or post-graduation opportunities.
Action 5: Organize and advertise resume workshops.
Action 6: Advise students about grad/professional/dual degree programs and possible financial assistant for them.
Action 7: Design a process to assist students in exploring specific graduate programs that include master's and PhD programs in physics but also in other areas considered non-traditional career paths, like Business, Pre-law, and Pre-Med. (Asynchronous seminar courses?)