GOAL 3: Establish and strengthen partnerships with industry.

Few universities in the country stand in such close physical proximity to their natural industrial base. UAHuntsville’s educational, research, and public service programs provide indispensible value to the aerospace, defense, financial, and health care sectors resident in Northern Alabama. It is imperative that we reach out to local industry in an aggressive, customer-service-oriented effort to understand their objectives and fulfill their needs. Only through such an approach can we expect the companies to invest their dollars in our people and programs.

Actions

• Meet with regularly with corporate leaders, staying current on their companies’ goals and needs.
• Match those goals and needs with the university’s capabilities and resources.
• Forge strong value propositions.

Assessment

• Numbers of co-op and intern students placed in companies.
• Numbers of graduates – at all levels – hired by companies.
• Numbers of company employees enrolled in continuing education programs – non-credit, credit, Masters, and PhD.
• Company representatives on campus, for recruiting, lectures, research seminars.
• Company funding for research – through contracts and gifts/grants.
• Corporate funding for scholarships, fellowships, faculty positions, curriculum development, student organizations and activities, facilities, equipment.