School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences Strategic Plan

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Mission Statement

The School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences (NBS) advances scientific knowledge and prepares students of all backgrounds to live and work as scientifically literate citizens contributing to a modern society. This mission includes: 1) preparing interested students for careers in areas demanding a high level of basic and applied scientific knowledge; and 2) preparing all graduates of the college to engage with the ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding scientific and technological developments.

The objectives of the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences are:

I. Provide an outstanding educational experience for our students

• Maintain a multi-tier curriculum that engages all students of the college in scientific inquiry at a level that supports their personal and career objectives.
• Provide students with the scientific knowledge and technical capabilities for successful performance in their chosen field of study.
• Prepare graduates to function as effective scientists, information professionals, mathematicians, clinicians, policy makers, and/or teachers in the workforce.
• Prepare students to utilize logical thinking, science, and associated technologies to advance knowledge and solve problems in their respective field.
• Mentor students through their inclusion in research, scholarship activities, and internships.
• Prepare students to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
• Provide faculty advisers for student organizations, and encourage faculty activities that support these organizations.

II. Foster a dynamic, responsive and inclusive academic community

• Advance and innovate in all areas of theoretical, laboratory, computational, and field science represented by our campus community.
• Maintain a strong and diverse faculty.
• Attract and retain as faculty national leaders in our areas of strength.
• Provide support and opportunities to traditionally underserved student groups, including under-represented minorities and students who are the first in their family to attend college.
• Engage the Brooklyn College student body in productive, cutting-edge research, with the synergistic goals of advancing scientific knowledge and broadening participation in the scientific community. Special efforts will be made to recruit and retain members of communities traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.
• Prepare students to work collaboratively in a diverse, interdisciplinary workforce.
• Promote intellectually rewarding interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty across departments and schools within the college, and in the broader community of scholars beyond the campus.
• Promote faculty membership and leadership in professional, teaching, and governmental organizations. This includes activities such as service on editorial boards for scholarly journals, review of grant proposals for external funding agencies, and service in committee and administrative roles in professional organizations.

III. Capitalize on Brooklyn as a learning environment and a gateway to the world

• Serve as a center of science in the borough of Brooklyn and beyond.
• Serve as a resource for communities and institutions at a local, national and international level.
• Maintain a high level of activity in the worldwide scientific community.
• Inspire engaged citizenship in Brooklyn College students through involvement with the local community in volunteer, service learning, advocacy, and experiential research activities.
• Apply scientific theory and practice to the improvement and well-being of communities at all levels.
• Engage in public discussion of local and global scientific issues and associated policy challenges.

IV. Promote the impact of Brooklyn College and its alumni

• Serve as a resource center for the promotion of science and science-based policy for the Borough of Brooklyn, the City of New York, and beyond.
• Instill students with a commitment to social and scientific responsibility to their profession, community, and society as a whole.
• Use scientific knowledge to support the creation of sustainable, evidence-based solutions to problems affecting modern society, such as urbanization, environmental, and health/wellness concerns.

V. Improve institutional effectiveness and enhance campus infrastructure

• Ensure that Brooklyn College provides students and faculty the highest possible level of infrastructural support for research and education in the STEM fields.
• Monitor the science landscape to identify new needs in basic research, recognize new national and international priorities, and develop institutional frameworks to take on new directions in scientific research and education.
• Ensure representation on committees at the department, college, and university levels and assume administrative appointments as program or department leaders.