Championing the Cowboy Family Culture

GOAL 5

Establish Oklahoma State University as a destination institution by cultivating a culture where faculty and staff feel empowered, the Cowboy family engages in the land-grant mission and all embrace the Cowboy Code.

At Oklahoma State University, excellence is earned through the people who show up, do the work and take care of one another. Our staff and faculty are the stewards of our land-grant mission lived daily across classrooms, campuses, counties and communities. Guided by the Cowboy Code, OSU is strengthening a culture where integrity, service and connection define the experience, and where people feel empowered to lead with humility, grounded in purpose and confident they belong to something bigger than themselves.

OSU champions the Cowboy family culture with our commitment to care for our workforce. By investing in competitive compensation, clear career pathways and meaningful professional and leadership development, we are building an environment where the best faculty and staff can thrive and remain.

From onboarding through lifelong engagement, OSU is reimagining the employee and student experience around connection to mission and each other. We are strengthening lifelong connections among students, alumni, faculty, staff and partners, and amplifying a culture where generosity, loyalty and service endure.

OSU leads by showing up for each other, for our communities and for the future we are building together for Oklahoma and beyond.

OBJECTIVE 1

Attract and retain the best faculty and staff across the OSU System and Oklahoma’s 77 counties by establishing competitive compensation, clear career progression pathways, and professional and leadership development programs.

Key Performance Indicators and Tasks

• Compensation alignment with peer institutions, benchmarked separately for campus faculty, campus staff and county Extension educators indexed to the cost of living
• Increase faculty and staff satisfaction and engagement rate
• Track faculty and staff involvement and leadership in institutional programs and professional organizations or societies annually
• Documented career pathways and ladders published by job family

OBJECTIVE 2

Deepen every faculty and staff member’s connection to the land-grant mission and the Cowboy Code through a revamped employee experience — from onboarding through ongoing engagement. 

Key Performance Indicators and Tasks

• Conduct a review of OSU System onboarding programs to enhance the faculty and staff experience
• Develop 30-, 60-, and 90-day checklists for staff and faculty onboarding

OBJECTIVE 3

Launch a high-impact student success model in which every OSU student has the support of an academic advisor and career coach.

Key Performance Indicators and Tasks

• Maintain a consistently high level of student satisfaction with academic advising
• Evaluate student mentorship and career-coaching participation rate and experience

OBJECTIVE 4

Amplify OSU's distinctive Cowboy family culture through increased engagement and lifelong connections with students, alumni, faculty, staff, community members and partners.

Key Performance Indicators

• Monitor participation rate in mentoring, giving and programming

OBJECTIVE 5

Measurably improve student and employee well-being and access to care across the OSU System by expanding the Cowboys Care initiative and establishing a comprehensive facility that integrates essential human and mental health services.

Key Performance Indicators

• Monitor average wait time and peak wait time for mental health services campuswide
• Improve student well-being and awareness composite from annual student survey
• Establish and measure an employee metric about satisfaction with wellness services (By 2027)
• Capital project milestone for integrated student services facility (funded, programmed, designed, constructed, occupied)