| There has been documented growth in the number of equine centers established at universities across the United States. There is a decided lack of empirical research focused on these university-based equine centers. This research addressed the identification of the functional organizational structure of these centers. A requisite analysis of the operational groups was performed to determine the functional organizational structure of university-based equine centers. The Delphi technique was used to determine consensus among a group of expert panelists on the perceived importance of three operational groups at university-based equine centers: faculty and staff members, participants in activities and services, and horses used at an ideal university-based equine center.;Data were collected from October 2015 to March 2016. A total of 16 panelists completed three ranking rounds following the initial open-ended questionnaire. In ranking rounds, panelists were asked to rank items on a Likert-type 5 point scale. Information gathered during the ranking rounds was used to indicate movement toward consensus, as well as when to stop the Delphi ranking rounds. A paired sample t test (alpha = .01) was performed for items individually in each category, as well as for each category as a whole. The degree of consensus was determined by the calculation of the interquartile range (IQR) of the scores for each item. The median score of items indicated the perceived importance of that item.;Items that achieved a high consensus (IQR = 0.0) and a high median score (Median = 5.0) were analyzed for emergent themes. Themes across categories were student involvement, equine management and maintenance, learning engagement, and program support and advancement. Themes from items with a median score below 4.0 were competition, training, extension and outreach, breeding, and therapeutic activities. The majority of items with an IQR of 0.0 and a median of 5.0 pertained to the functional and structural requisites of faculty and staff members. The roles of faculty and staff members are the most defined, while roles of participants and horses require further research. |
