MISSION, VALUES, VISION, AND GOALS OF THE SWSD

Soil and water are vital resources in urban, agricultural, and natural ecosystems. The Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences provides highly visible leadership in teaching, research, and extension/outreach programs to improve the productivity of agriculture with environmentally sound management practices, improve water quality, and protect and conserve natural resources. The department faces many new challenges in a rapidly changing environment at institute and professional levels, and the changing needs of clientele.

Mission

Soil and water are among the most important of all natural resources. Maintaining soil and water quality is essential to sustainable agricultural productivity and protection and conservation of land and water resources. The Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences offers excellent research and educational opportunities for students seeking careers in soil, water, and environmental sciences related to land and water resource management. The SWSD programs are designed to meet the changing needs of our clientele at state, national and international levels.

Our programs are focused to address soil and water quality issues in a wide range of ecosystems, including agricultural lands, forested lands, rangelands, urban lands, wetlands, and shallow lakes and estuaries. Our education, research, and outreach/extension programs have global significance in the areas of water quality, ecosystem productivity, environmental services, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change.  

Core Values

• Excellence: The Department is committed to individual and collective excellence in every facet of its research, teaching, extension, and service functions.
• Productivity: The Department is committed to establishing and maintaining high productivity in all its programs while maintaining high quality and relevance.
• Creativity: The Department is committed to innovatively capturing new opportunities and developing new integrative programs while maintaining strong foundations in current programs.
• Accountability: The Department places high value on the accountability of its programs. This includes the relevance of our programs to meet the needs of students, governmental agencies, and industry.
• Flexibility and Viability: The Department shall be adaptive to the changing needs of our clientele. This includes optimization of departmental efforts and resources by engaging in collaborative, synergistic work and programs at every opportunity. 
• Partnerships: The Department is committed to developing strong partnerships with our clientele through research and extension/outreach programs. The Department is committed to responding to the needs of the clientele.
• Transparency: The Department is committed to fostering and maintaining an open, honest, healthy, and fulfilling environment for its students, staff, faculty, and clientele.

Vision

The vision of the Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences is to be a global leader in advancing the understanding and stewardship of soil and water resources.

• The Department shall be a world-class center of excellence in the study of soil and water resources and in the application of knowledge to the solution of agricultural, natural resource, environmental, and land/water use problems.
• The Department shall be a premier learning center in soil and water sciences at the undergraduate and graduate levels and will adapt to the changing demographics and educational needs of students. This includes meeting the professional needs of students on campus, and place-bound students (using a distance education program).
• The Department's research programs shall be cutting-edge and interdisciplinary and both basic and applied, with relevance to the needs of our clientele.
• The Department is committed to transferring research findings through its extension programs to appropriate audiences (e.g., farmers, regulatory decision-makers, policymakers, legislators, classroom students, scientists, and other citizens) to ensure their application to critical problems.
• The Department shall engage in technology transfer by linkage with the private sector as appropriate through patents and licensing agreements that will maximize the beneficial effects of discoveries and inventions arising from departmental research.
• The Department is committed to maintaining an active outreach program by offering relevant short courses to soil, water, and environmental professionals.
• The Department shall work to actively seek the input of clientele through formal and informal approaches, including deriving the expertise and insight of an external advisory panel or panels.

Goals

The goals supporting the department’s mission and vision are to:

• Improve the national and international visibility and recognition of the department.
• Deliver highly visible teaching programs that have deep, lasting impacts.
• Deliver highly visible research programs that have deep, lasting impacts.
• Deliver highly visible extension programs that have deep, lasting impacts.
• Increase the emphasis on internationalization across all departmental programs.
• Strengthen the position of the department as a leader in distance education (DE).

The University of Florida’s Undergraduate (https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/) and Graduate (https://gradcatalog.ufl.edu/graduate/) programs are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The links provided contain the most updated accreditation information for the University