Notes on Mission, Values, Vision from Executive Council Meeting
May 2, 2007
The notes below summarize comments from a wide–ranging discussion by Executive Council members, including deans, on SOU’s current mission, values, and vision (which are included below the comments).
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We are not the Center of Excellence in the Fine and Performing Arts in Oregon. The Higher Ed Board at one time noted that we’re a center. The sentence in the mission statement is misleading—though we may certainly wish to highlight the arts as one of our centers of excellence.
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Our mission should say who we are (now), what we do, and whom we partner with.
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We should indicate a broad arts and sciences focus with regional grounding.
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We should note that we partner strategically to expand our resources and ensure we’re regionally responsive.
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Our vision should be to attract students nationwide for certain programs. To fulfill our mission, we should have students from a variety of locations, backgrounds, and so on.
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A top value should be our commitment to student success.
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We should be explicit in civic engagement mission—and aspire to be in the Carnegie classification with that focus.
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As we commit to a successful future as an institution, we should promise students and taxpayers that we will be accountable to the people of the state.
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We should look at Truman State’s wording on the liberal arts tradition.
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The values we list should be coherent and understandable.
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Every word of the mission statement should be accurate and useful—why do we note that we’re “contemporary,” for instance?
