35 SPEC Kit 361: Outreach and Engagement Our outreach activities are aligned with the library’s strategic plan. For example, one of our strategic directions is to “Contribute to Strategic Campus Initiatives,” and these campus initiatives include retention and internationalization. Student experience scholarly communications equity, diversity, and inclusion research data management and preservation—digital and print Student retention and graduation programming in support of experiential and service learning Targeted support for non-traditional and unique student populations. Partnering with the county community to preserve the legacy and experiences of the region’s diverse individuals and communities. Engaging the community, students, and alumni through friendly services, welcoming spaces, and relevant programming. The Office of First-Year Experience’s mission is to create environments that help students to discover, engage, and belong at the university. The Libraries offers outreach programming in each of these areas, including orientation and information tabling, undergraduate student programming, and events and activities that get students into our library spaces. The Libraries align themselves with the university’s mission statement and goals. The following two goals of the university clearly capture our activities with outreach: To welcome students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds to create an inclusive community that is welcoming, nurturing, and intellectually rigorous to be an institution that excels by its accomplishments in our home community, as well as in the nation and the world. The Libraries’ goals are aligned with the university’s strategic plan: Goal 1.2 Sustain an inclusive, accessible campus of opportunity for a richly diverse student body, including international students, students with disabilities, underrepresented students, and veterans. 1.2.1 Strengthen and coordinate outreach/recruitment strategies that highlight our commitment to inclusion. The Libraries are currently developing a series of programming opportunities to support graduate students. Of the graduate student population at the university, about 40 percent are international students. The library’s first generation student mentoring program provides connections to the university retention efforts. The university is a land grant institution. As a result, our community (external) outreach satisfies the mission to make our resources available to the public. The Friends activities serve to advance awareness of the Libraries’ impact on campus, that our resources are available to all, and that our programming draws people to the university. There is a renewed interest on campus in first-year retention, first-generation students, and students from underrepresented populations. The library’s outreach activities tie into these by targeting certain populations. We provide a resource table at the Rainbow Resource fair for LGBTQ+ students and also do programming for student veterans. We also have a partnership with a program in Residence Life that is providing programming to students of color. They align with university and library strategic planning, including services and retention of first- generation students, outreach to traditionally underserved populations, and engagement with the community at large. The launching of Digital Humanities Certificate program, diversity recruitment, and advancement goals in the library support university advancement goals and inclusion initiatives. Through “Purdue Moves,” Purdue University has embarked upon a “transformative education” initiative to transform teaching and learning. One part of this transformative education initiative is the IMPACT (Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation) program, a course redesign program that focuses on making courses at Purdue more student centered. In this program, Libraries’ faculty and staff collaborate with partners across the campus. Within IMPACT, interdepartmental teams work