About Us
Nov. 14, 2024
Author: Lisa Lopez Snyder
In summer 2024, The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS) launched its five-year Strategic Plan, an initiative focused on shaping the future of the school.
“The strategic plan’s ambition is to elevate and promote the school as a national leader in health and rehabilitations sciences leveraging our tripartite mission of research, education and service to the broader community,” says Jimmy Oñate, PhD, AT, ATC, interim HRS director, interim vice dean for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences for the College of Medicine and director of the Division of Athletic Training.
The plan’s four main areas of focus are essentially a “roadmap” the result of extensive input from over 190 stakeholders across the school and the College of Medicine over the past year, says Derrick Wyman, director of Strategic Initiatives. Each of the four domains set forth the following strategies and goals:
Education and Workforce Development — Increase enrollment by 20% within 5 years; leverage partnerships to better meet workforce demand in prioritized professions; develop new academic programs; and support student success and experience.
Research and Innovation — Develop interdisciplinary research centers; double research funding; and support and advance innovation and discovery.
Culture and Community — Engage with the community externally and internally, offering initiatives such as HRS Connects; attract and retain outstanding faculty and staff who reflect HRS patient and community populations; and create a positive culture, a sense of belonging and increased cultural and interprofessional competency for all HRS faculty, staff and learners.
Operational Excellence — Improve processes and infrastructure to support HRS growth and excellence; engage HRS alumni and other stakeholders to champion the mission and vision of the school; and elevate HRS’ local brand recognition and regional and national reputation.
“The strategic plan leverages our collected leadership talents, the strength of our learners, engagement of our alumni and friends and enables us to focus our energies and our enthusiasm on identifying and building on our strengths and opportunities,” says Wyman.
“It really allows us to elevate all those areas to the next level by further investment and bringing interdisciplinary teams together to achieve our ambition as a national leader in health and rehabilitation sciences.”
In particular, the focus on investing in increased philanthropic giving aims to advance efforts to improve student affordability, increase student scholarships and optimize the learning environment by investing in labs and spaces, Wyman says.
Furthermore, the plan provides a guide for how the school will operate in terms of resource stewardship and leveraging its funding to invest in needed advancements that help to improve the HRS student learning environment, the student experience, as well as HRS education and its research missions.
“It enables us to position our school with the changing demographics and to be responsive to the needs of students and families who seek to come to our school,” Wyman says. “It also enables us to invest in faculty and staff development and in their research and discovery.”
The work for implementing all these goals and strategies has already begun, says Dr. Oñate.
“It’s really an exciting time to be a part of HRS because we’re prioritizing focus areas that enable us to bring people together and advance the school in very meaningful ways,” he says.
“The achievement of our Strategic Plan will require the engagement and support of our entire school community, including our alumni and friends.”