Big Ideas & Goals

Big Idea 1

Support Baylor’s pursuit of becoming a Research 1/Tier 1 (R1/T1) institution.


Big Idea 2

Assure the highest quality visitor experience.



Big Idea 3

Build relationships with communities who represent a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and cultures to increase accessibility and relevance.

Big Idea 4

Strengthen our corporate culture and operations through our core values, policies, organizational capacity, and identity awareness.

Big Idea 5

Increase operating revenue (earned and donations) to support continuous improvement in programs and services.

Big Idea 1

Support Baylor’s pursuit of receiving Research 1/Tier 1 (R1/T1) recognition.

  • Goal 1: Provide improved access to the museum’s collections for research. Measurable Outcome: Increased number of research access requests and research publications including the museum’s collection.
  • Goal 2: Continue to disseminate Baylor research through our exhibits and programs, supporting broader impact goals on national research grants. Measurable Outcome: Increased number of participants in Portal to the Public Program. Increased number of grants that name the museum.
  • Goal 3: Finalize and implement the collections storage recommendations based on the architectural study completed by the university. These changes will help the museum during its reaccreditation process and allow the museum to help care for the collections of other university departments. Measurable Outcome: Ability to store collections belonging to other departments.
  • Goal 4: Seek out grant opportunities for informal learning research within the museum. Measurable Outcome: The museum will submit at least two grant requests over the next three years separate from university grants that include the museum in the broader impacts sections.

Big Idea 2

  • Goal 1: Implement the 2019 Exhibition Master Plan by dividing the plan into initial phases by June 30th, 2020, having mammoth bronze sculpture developed and implemented by January 2022, and having a detailed plan of phase 1 as per Roto strategy by December 2022. Measurable Outcome: Implement the 2019 Exhibition Master Plan by dividing the plan into initial phases by March 21st, 2020.
  • Goal 2: Create a cohesive evaluation plan using COVES data, programming evaluations, and staff expertise to prioritize programs, create opportunities for visitors of all ages to engage with our collections/exhibits, and ensure we are keeping the visitor’s experience at the heart of our work. Measurable Outcome: Completed evaluation plan.
  • Goal 3: Implement museum-wide customer service training to improve the everyday visit through dynamic staff and volunteer interactions. Measurable Outcome: Training is implemented. Higher Net Promoter Score and Experience Ratings from COVES date.
  • Goal 4: Raise $5M for Phase 1 of Exhibit Master Plan with support and guidance from Baylor’s Development Office

Assure the highest quality visitor experience.

Big Idea 3

Build relationships with communities who represent a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and cultures to increase accessibility and relevance.

  • Goal 1: Develop a Museum Community Committee focused on building relationships in the community and increasing communication across teams. The committee will identify three to five primary partners and five to ten associate partners along with guidelines for what it means to be a primary and associate partner. Measurable Outcome: Partners are defined and connections are made.
  • Goal 2: Continue to make new and updated exhibits bilingual and prioritize traveling exhibits that are bilingual. Measurable Outcome: Increased number of bilingual exhibits.
  • Goal 3: Work with representative groups when exhibit planning to ensure that diverse audiences see themselves in our museum. Measurable Outcome: Diverse exhibit advisory committees.
  • Goal 4: Develop a communication plan for the Mayborn Reach Out program, identifying community groups and agencies that could distribute this information. Measurable Outcome: Executed plan.
  • Goal 5: Provide museum-wide staff diversity training. Utilize information gained and seek out additional training to ensure accessibility and inclusion to ensure our exhibits, programs, and processes are multilingual, representative of all races, and ADA compliant. Measurable Outcome: At least two inclusion and diversity trainings will be offered annually.
  • Goal 6: Transition Baylor’s Lifelong Learning as a working team within the Mayborn Museum’s Public & Community Engagement team.  Measurable Outcome: Merge all parties’ priorities to better serve the museum’s mission.
  • Goal 7: Serve as a community partner to develop a broad base of community forums and focus groups with the goal of providing space for every community voice. 

Big Idea 4

  • Goal 1: Create a strong internal identity of ‘who we are’ as a museum. Measurable Outcome: Departments will rotate on a monthly basis and attend 9 out of 12 presentations as part of their professional development. Each department will present on their basic operations and share new ideas from professional developments opportunities. Response improvement on annual survey about clarity on job descriptions.
  • Goal 2: Promote team culture of continuous improvement, reflection, and growth. Measurable Outcome: Improvement of responses on annual survey, “I am on a team that works well together.”
  • Goal 3: Strengthen museum-wide safety protocols. Measurable Outcome: Safety protocols are in place by January 2021.
  • Goal 4: Create systems and processes in a project management system that eases communication across the museum. Measurable Outcome: At least 5 new processes will be integrated into a project management system by May 2021.

Strengthen our corporate culture and operations through our core values, policies, organizational capacity, and identity awareness.

Big Idea 5

Increase operating revenue (earned and donations) to support continuous improvement in programs and services.

  • Goal 1: Implement recommendations provided by outside consultant (Alexander Haas). Measurable Outcome: Increase membership revenue.
  • Goal 2: Develop sponsorships for relevant traveling exhibits and programs. Measurable Outcome: Increase sponsorship revenue.
  • Goal 3: Explore alternate revenue sources to supplement traditional sources of revenue. Measurable Outcome: Increased revenue from alternate sources.