Strategic Plan for the Department of Dairy and Food Science

Mission

The mission of the Dairy and Food Science Department is to help create a prosperous future for the dairy and food industry of South Dakota, the region, nation and world.

Vision

The Dairy and Food Science Department will be the nation’s authority in modernized dairy production, dairy manufacturing and food science leadership.

Goals and Strategies

Excellence Through Transformative Education
  1. Achieve academic excellence
    1. The department will build on its unique strength of “cow to table” programs.
    2. Continually review and refine the curriculum for Dairy Production, Dairy Manufacturing, and Food Science in response to contemporary needs.
    3. Foster professional development in faculty by encouraging application for leadership positions in professional organizations such ADSA, IFT, Central Plains Dairy Association, etc., and participation in workshops.
  2. Affirm student success as a foundational priority
    1. Develop leadership skills in students through educational, training, and Extension program activities.
    2. Invite prospective employers to the department to interview students for internship and permanent positions.
    3. Engage industry partners in Dairy and Food Science program development.
    4. Promote high-quality advising and support system for students. Continue to engage with students through an established “open door” policy.
  3. Increase recruitment, retention and graduation of professionally prepared global citizens
    1. Increase undergraduate and maintain graduate student enrollment to meet the growing needs of the regional and national dairy and food industries.
    2. Recruit and retain high-quality staff and faculty with expertise in dairy cattle nutrition, dairy herd management, dairy product processing, food science, plant management and food safety.
Community Engagement
  1. Enhance the environment of the department by fostering a culture of service, servant leadership and overall excellence
    • Provide increased faculty, staff and student support and opportunities for professional development.
    • Promote faculty, staff and student engagement in service opportunities.
    • Recognize service contributions of faculty, staff and students.
  2. Grow external engagement through collaboration, community outreach and public-private partnerships that enhance the quality of life in South Dakota and beyond.
    • Enhance research, teaching, and extension partnerships with industry and consumers (e.g., – Central Plains Dairy Expo, I-29 Moo University, Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center, Midwest Dairy Association, South Dakota Dairy Producers, regional commodity groups, Ag United and Dairy Fest).
    • Increase internationalization of departmental activities in research, teaching and Extension.
    • Provide leadership and expertise through media and internet outlets including news releases, iGrow, social media and other appropriate venues.
    • Conduct workshops and seminars on emerging issues in department expertise areas
    • Maintain an up-to-date website and social media presence that is designed to recruit new students and deliver pertinent departmental information.
    • Jackrabbit Dairy Council, and other industry groups will be engaged in an advisory capacity.
    • Maintain active links with Dairy and Food Science alumni.
    • Serve as a resource for industry for placement of graduates.
    • Extension Field Specialists will be invited to participate in departmental operations and planning on a regular basis.
  3. Enhance the sustainability of Dairy and Food Production Systems, while strengthening our rural economies, through agricultural profitability and growth of the industry.
    • Deliver Extension based programs based upon clearly defined objectives and needs.
    • Offer producer programs, in one-on-one and group settings, with interactions focusing on profitability of operations utilizing a systems approach towards production agriculture.
    • Deliver programs that will raise awareness and increase knowledge about workforce cultural backgrounds, while developing and implementing strategies for achieving their maximum interest and work potential.
    • Expand upon programs to guide the dairy industry clientele in having reliable and qualified employees to run an efficient and sustainable operation.
    • Elevate and model programming focused on learning strategies for educating a workforce with defined food safety, milk quality and employee safety training objectives to increase the sustainability and profitability of the dairy operation; while at the same time reducing accidents and injuries.
    • Design and implement revised communication techniques to provide producers increased access to new, cutting-edge, advanced techniques that will allow for improvements in the dairy operations’ productivity and profits.Create alliances  with  community  and  stakeholders  from South  Dakota, and the region, to  identify  sustainable  solutions  to create an expanded employee training and retention business model.
    • Enhance the learning community partnerships and collaborations of the dairy industry in the upper-Midwest.
    • Strive to optimize natural resource management practices to meet production goals, while minimizing detrimental impacts on the environment and the livestock industry.
    • Stakeholders will be made aware of research based resources for reference and follow-up information through iGrow articles, web-based portals, events, fact sheets and podcasts, to provide unbiased information to enable sound business decision making practices.
    • Expanding extension outreach to other small dairy ruminant operations that have shown an increase in the past few years.
    • Continue participation in multi-state extension collaborations with mutual strategies and goals for the dairy industry.
Growing, High-Performing and Healthy Department
  1. Infuse core values throughout the university
    • Embrace a culture of responsibility and accountability to our university.
    • Promote faculty, staff and student leadership across campus.
    • 40% of students will have an ACT of 25 or more.
    • 10% of undergraduate students will be enrolled in the Honors College.
    • Develop joint degree programs with dairy and food-related international institutions.
    • Develop a dairy and/or food engineering option in collaboration with the College of Engineering, including a dairy specific engineering course.
    • Develop a collaboration with the Management program in the Economics Department.
    • Initiate online courses in dairy and food science.
  2. Grow and sustain financial resources aligned with the mission of the department and SDSU
    • Increase undergraduate student enrollment through the initiation of a targeted recruitment committee.
    • Recruit undergraduate students from at least eight states other than South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
    • Increase scholarship opportunities for students in dairy science.
    • Increase external grants, contracts and gifts.
    • Continue existing endowed chair and initiate others.
    • Maintain dairy plant revenues through continued sales of products and services to industry.
    • Investigate potential for synergistic linkages with other universities and programs (i.e. synergy between Culinology programs at Southwest Minnesota State and Mitchell Technical Institute and the Food Science Curriculum).
  3. Structure department resources to achieve strategic priorities
    • Create a culture that encourages and supports collaboration, creativity and bold ideas.
    • Implement systems that incorporate efficiencies and continuous improvement.
    • Expand capabilities for processing dairy-based ingredients within the Davis Dairy Plant.
    • Develop ingredients from materials currently considered dairy by-products to improve functionality of new and existing dairy-based food products.
Innovation and Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity
  1. Strengthen leadership for RSCA
    • Maintain research excellence and enhance research activity among faculty through increased federal, industry and other grants.
    • Vary dairy cattle nutrition research to include molecular aspects such as nutrigenomics, metabolomics, data analysis and other areas of research, including biofuel co-products and other alternative feed ingredients for dairy cattle.
    • Increase knowledge of the functionality and expected responses to targeted, specific nutrients in regulation of metabolic and physiological processes of dairy cattle across all stages of life.
    • Expand research on dairy farm employee labor relations and farm management practices.
    • Develop a management related research program focused on precision dairy farming including utilization of robotic milking systems, sensors and other technologies.
    • Develop state-of-the-art and scientific-based farm decision support tools for better dairy management.
    • Develop new and improved dairy and food products through the evaluation and utilization of emerging technologies (i.e. cavitation, High Pressure Processing (HPP), ultrasound, encapsulations, etc.).
    • Develop microbiological quality assurance and food safety research programs for milk production and processing. Provide critical information regarding potential contamination issues on milk production farms and manufacturing units focusing on biofilm formation and removal, spore former control mechanisms and Listeria.
    • Development and improvement of functional dairy and food products and nutraceuticals through collaboration with other university faculty.
    • Strengthen dairy ingredient research program focusing on the development of new and improved membrane-based manufacturing processes to produce dairy-based ingredients.
    • Enhance collaboration with other departments, universities and industry partners in grant development and joint-research activities
  2. Increase personnel infrastructure for excellence in innovation and economic development
    • Recruit, fill and maintain fully-staffed faculty in all positions.
    • Encourage undergraduate student participation in research, experiential learning and study abroad opportunities in addition to pursuing internships.
  3. Strengthen physical infrastructure to support innovation and RSCA
    • Obtain funding, complete renovation and building of the Dairy Research and Training Facility (dairy farm) to meet emerging industry needs and expectations to enable continued focus on teaching and extension programs while expanding research capabilities in management, nutrition and sustainable production.
    • Complete construction of Food Science Instructional Lab and Food Science Research Lab in space allocated in Berg Agricultural Hall.
  4. Create a culture of communicating, branding RSCA and its achievements, outcomes and impacts
    • Publish and present research work in a timely manner
    • Work with University and College Marketing and Communications in disseminating findings.
Contact us
Department of Dairy and Food Science
Physical Address
1224 Medary Ave.
Brookings, SD 57007
Mailing Address
Alfred Dairy Science Hall 113, Box 2104
Brookings, SD 57007
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Hours
Mon - Fri: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
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