General Research Capability

Delaware State University is a public, comprehensive, 1890 Land Grant Institution fostering the triad of teaching, research and extension/service. The University is a fully accredited institution of higher education, which grants degrees at the masters and undergraduate levels. As such, the University is composed of five divisions: Executive Services, Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Business and Finance, and University Advancement. Each division is headed by a vice president with the exception of Executive Services, which is headed by the President of the University.

The Division of Academic Affairs is composed of five colleges and/or schools, which are as follows: College of Agriculture and Related Sciences, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education, Health and Public Policy, College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology, and the College of Business. Three centers of excellence are also housed under Academic Affairs: Applied Optics of Delaware, Sea Food Safety Research Laboratory and Applied Mathematic Research Center. This division is where the majority of the formal academic educational activities are conducted on a day to day basis.

Under the Division of Academic Affairs graduate degrees are offered as follows: Master of Arts (MA), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Science (MS), and Master of Social Work. At the graduate level 18 degree program options are offered. At the undergraduate level the University offers the Bachelor of Science (BS) and the Bachelor of Arts (BA) with 187 degree program options. As outlined in the President’s Vision Statement the University will continue to offer an array of master’s and doctoral programs in areas of importance to the social and economic development of Delaware.

In order to ensure an emphasis on research the President established a unit within the Office of the President with University-wide responsibilities for focusing on research. The unit is headed by a Ph.D. level scientist, which carries the title “Senior Administrator for Research”. In addition to working with the President, Vice Presidents, Deans, Chairpersons, Faculty and Staff within the University, the office works with businesses and industries throughout the State of Delaware and the United States of America with some international responsibilities related to research.

Agricultural Research Capability

The College of Agriculture and Related Sciences (CARS) at Delaware State University (DSU), through its mandate and mission, accelerates the development, transfer and access of modern science and technology-based developments in agriculture and related fields to small farmers and producers in Delaware, the nation and the world. The critical national challenges of a rising population, rising food prices, rising energy demand and an increasing population shift from rural to urban environments means that agriculture has to produce more food, fiber and energy with fewer people and in some places less space. Addressing these complex needs calls for both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach.

As a Historically Black College and University with a long track record and rich mandate, Delaware State University is well positioned to contribute to the research, instruction and transformational education and outreach in the state and nation, as well as internationally in its areas of competence. To do this, CARS research is based on strong collaboration and cooperation among its four divisions of Human Ecology, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Cooperative Extension and Cooperative Research. In addition, CARS administers a modern herbarium, and collaborates closely with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Laboratory Center of Excellence in Microbial Seafood Safety. The four pillars are responsive to the new high priority demands, which are identified by community and state need areas. Many of the solutions to the pressing challenges in human health and nutrition, climate change and the environment, organic agriculture, food safety, food security, aquaculture, biotechnology and bioenergy are rooted in agricultural-biosciences.

On Delaware State University’s 400-acre main campus, the College of Agriculture and Related Sciences houses 16 laboratories, two greenhouses, and a 34-pond Aquaculture Research and Demonstration Facility—all of which are dedicated to agriculture, food science and textile production and research. Additionally, DSU owns two farms in the Kent County community that are used for teaching, field research, and agriculture outreach and demonstration events. The 75-acre Hickory Hill facility is dedicated to forage, large and small ruminant, and poultry research, and the 192-acre Outreach and Research Center is dedicated to crop production and research. Long term water quality monitoring in the upper Choptank River Watershed and the effects of agricultural drainage on natural and managed systems on the Delmarva Peninsula wetlands, as it relates to land use, are other ongoing activities to address complex food and environmental systems.

The college covers a broad range of agricultural and ag-bioscience subject matter areas. These include Ag-biotechnology, which addresses genomics in plants and animals; natural resources, which deals with the restoration of devastated habitats in national or natural estuarine reserves; aquaculture research and demonstration; and research on small ruminants. Culinary herbs, medicinal and oil plants research is a major plant science initiative that investigates native and endangered species, as well as alternative cash crops. Additional work is ongoing with several species of importance in the Delaware Bay and with terrestrial animals and birds in Delaware’s upland habitats. This collective collaborative research has broadened student participation from an early undergraduate stage to the post-doctoral level. The college also cooperates and supports student research from the other colleges. The outreach and transfer of research results to Delaware producers, landowners, businesses and families involve collaboration among research and extension as the 1890 land-grant mission dictates.