Securing the mission through strategic planning

The Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, USA provides a centralized location where collections are made, researched, interpreted, exhibited, and preserved for the benefit of the academic and the broader community alike. In this way, the Museum exists and operates on the interface between the academic world and the wider world beyond. This situation gives the Museum something of an advantage in the current transitional academic climate. This does not mean, however, that the Museum is not challenged by demands placed upon it by the parent institution that is itself in transition. An increasingly diverse student body, opportunities presented by new technologies and related pedagogies, leadership succession concerns, and rising costs in the face of declining budgets, to name a few, all contribute to an academic identity in flux. In response, the Museum fulfills the traditional role of a university museum by providing the core functions of collections care, scholarly research, and exhibition and embraces the role as an interface between the university and the public by acting as a conduit for knowledge on heritage in both its tangible (collections) and intangible (information) forms. The Museum accomplishes this by aligning its academic and intellectual mission and vision with that of Texas Tech University. For practical purposes, this is achieved through a strategic planning process that also mirrors that of the University. Through identifying goals, critical success factors and objectives (including strategies and assessments) the Museum can prioritize all of its activities, from traditional object-based research to innovative public programming. In turn, this process assists in making the most of limited resources and raises the profile of the Museum both within the University and in the world outside

The use of collections in research and teaching at the Museum of Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas, is a multi-disciplinary institution conducting research and offering degrees in a multitude of academic, technological, and vocational fields. The museum supports the research and teaching mission of the university by preserving in its collections unique items of artistic, scientific, historic, and technological importance and protecting them for current and future research purposes. Museum science and heritage management students translate collections management concepts learned in the classroom into collections management practices within the Quaternary collections. The genetic resources collection provides resource material for use in both traditional and emerging research methodologies. The vertebrate paleontology collections are used in research, teaching and exhibits to generate and disseminate information for both academic and public audiences. These examples clearly demonstrate the value of the museum’s collections in supporting the university’s mission across disciplines and into the future