Tennessee State University Needs Assessment and Five Pillar Strategic Action Plan

Project Summary Tennessee State University, has a unique profile as a Historically Black College and University and urban land-grant institution. To that end, capacity and capabilities of research administration, professional development, and physical research infrastructure to support biomedical sciences and behavioral research at Tennessee State University has not kept pace establishing our institution as a low research active (LRA) resource limited institution. Evaluative assessment of the capacity and capabilities of such a heterogeneous ecosystem to monitor and improve efficiency and effectiveness is essential. However, evaluative assessment approaches and methodologies have lacked systematic study to improve research infrastructure, processes, and productivity. Therefore, the proposed project will employ needs assessments to inform a novel five pillar action strategy plan to enhance the capacity and capabilities of the biomedical sciences and behavioral research ecosystem at Tennessee State University.