Vision, Mission & Goals

College Mission Statement

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences advances the discovery, dissemination, and application of knowledge and creativity and – by building the academic programs for tomorrow – educates students to be critical and imaginative thinkers and engaged citizens for a world increasingly characterized by diversity and change.

Our mission is supported by the values that inform the founding principles of liberal education:

  • Intellectual Integrity: In the pursuit of knowledge and creativity, we are committed to rigorous and authentic intellectual inquiry.
  • Community: As teachers, researchers, and engaged citizens, we recognize our interconnectedness to both local and global communities and our responsibility to improving their health and vibrancy.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: We encourage a culture of intellectual and personal inclusion that rises above simplistic labels, and provides the means for understanding and negotiating the range of perspectives, experiences, and traditions essential to living ethically in an interdependent global culture.
  • Access: We understand that access to higher education for all qualified students builds a self-reflective and informed citizenship. Further, a diverse cohort of people learning and working together constitutes the core of liberal education.
  • Ethical Behavior: We hold to the highest standards of honesty, truth, fairness, respect, and social responsibility, respecting the dignity, diversity, and rights of all individuals and groups of people.
  • Academic Freedom and Responsibility: The CLAS academic community of educators and scholars engage in the free search for truth and its free exposition in its various disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields of knowledge. Likewise, it understands its responsibility to adhere to legitimate intellectual and professional criteria, not personal beliefs, political views, religious or other individual preferences, except as these may demonstrably affect intellectual and professional achievement.
  • Innovation and Creativity: Innovation, measured risk-taking, meaningful novelty, honored traditions, and creativity are innate features of our collective. The college embraces an entrepreneurial ethos that situates our community at the vanguard of teaching, research and professional service in the liberal arts and sciences across our regional, national and global communities.

College Goals

  1. To educate a diverse student body through an integrated academic experience that positions graduates for personal success and civic responsibility in the global environment of the 21st century.
  2. To expand the frontiers of knowledge and leverage discovery for the public benefit through innovative programs of research, creative activities, and graduate education that span the disciplines.
  3. To engage community partners in mutually beneficial programs which enhance the economic, civic, and cultural vitality of the region.
  4. To provide for our faculty and staff a supportive infrastructure that includes excellent opportunities for professional development and mentoring.