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Discovery 2030 @ South

A highway curves across a delta towards a city skyline in the distance.
A strategic planning process for the future of research at South

Throughout 2025-2026, the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) will be engaging the campus community in strategic planning activities to shape a research plan that fits the unique culture, opportunities and challenges at the University of South Alabama.

Ways to Participate
  • TOWN HALLS: We plan three campus-wide town hall meetings throughout the process, one each at the kickoff, midpoint, and endpoint. Since time and space constraints will restrict attendance, we will record these sessions and share the recordings online once they are available.
  • SURVEYS: We will be collecting data using a variety of surveys during the planning process. We will begin with a baseline campus survey (open to all), continue our outreach with surveys for each college (open only to members of that college), and conduct a midpoint survey after we have released our preliminary findings (open to all). We are also keeping a form open for continuous feedback on the planning process.
  • COLLEGE MEETINGS: Throughout the fall semester, a small team of ORED leadership will visit academic units to learn about and discuss research within the context of each college or school. The exact format of the meetings is currently being finalized.
  • FOCUS GROUPS: Beginning in late September, the ORED team will convene focus groups to gather qualitative feedback. We will be reaching out to our campus partners to get participant nominations. 

 

Timeline
  • Summer 2025: Engagement & Development
  • Fall 2025: Data Collection
  • Spring 2026: Data Analysis & Action Planning
  • Summer 2026: Release Plan & Operationalize
     

Thumbnail of Research Strategic Planning Timeline

 

Resources & Data

As we collect data and produce documents during the planning process, we will share them here.

▼   Town Hall Meeting, 9 September 2025

Recording (will be shared after the meeting once it is made available)

Slide Deck (will be shared after the meeting)

Research Strategic Planning Timeline (PDF)

Full Q&A Responses for Questions Submitted in Advance (will be shared as soon as we have the responses written up)

▼   Existing Institutional Data We Have Referenced

University of South Alabama Strategic Plan

The work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Research Classification and Researcher Support (website to be launched in October)

Faculty Senate aggregated R1 listening session data