Perception and Conceptualization of the Land-Grant Mission at a Land-Grant Institution

While the three-part mission of land-grant university has been a pivotal component agriculture and natural resources in U.S., is not always well understood by all audiences, including faculty members who are key deliverers mission. As such, it important to understand how view brand identity. A series focus groups were conducted with tenure non-tenure track at [university]. Faculty members’ perceptions university’s came out four themes: overall description identity, connections [City], values, increased emphasis on research. How conceptualized presented two aware but uninformed about (subthemes: concerns public awareness stakeholder priorities, unawareness Extension) having varying definitions land, for more than agriculture, successful when serving state, intended improve society, delivering equal opportunity education). Recommendations universities included providing full understanding missions ensuring students taught Future research was recommended assess other non-faculty audiences such as external stakeholders. quantitative survey also provide generalizable universities.