Mission Statement

Pursuing enlightenment and creativity . . .

The School of Arts and Letters exists to foster the intellectual, creative, and personal growth of its students through courses in the humanities. We encourage our students to dream, to think critically, creatively, and insightfully, and to engage in their own lives, their communities and the world. Within our individual academic disciplines, we seek to create learning communities that will inspire and equip students to become the best, most independent, confident, and competent people they can be.

The mission of the faculty of the School of Arts and Letters is to develop in each student cognitive and creative language and artistic skills that allow for human thought and communication in the expression of ideas, emotions, and aesthetics. We believe that students more fully develop their own aesthetic and intellectual voice by knowing and experiencing the perspectives and values of others. These goals involve crossing cultural, philosophical, and artistic boundaries. As faculty and students, we seek to understand ourselves and others through our individual creative works and ideas as we become agents of our own lives.

It is clear to us that the intellectual, creative, and personal growth of each student benefits the faculty, staff, students, campus and local communities, and the world at large. Through our teaching, research, creativity, and service, we are committed to giving our students the tools to be informed citizens in a global society guided by democratic principles, as well as to succeed professionally. With this in mind, we seek to stimulate rather than suppress, challenge rather than confirm, create rather than imitate.

Vision Statement

The School of Arts and Letters is actively committed to sustaining the excellence of our programs. We further commit ourselves to make them flexible, versatile, and comprehensive in order to meet the needs of our students. We will continue to recruit and retain students and to enhance their progress toward graduation and their success in employment, further study, and life. Affirming the importance of intellectual inquiry as a shared pursuit, we will also seek to enhance our collaborative efforts, reaching out more effectively to others, including our own school members, as well as our alumni, the campus, and the community. Our dean, coordinators, faculty, and staff will continue to work together consistently and conscientiously to examine our plans, methods, and strategies. In the spirit of this self-examination, we will position our assessment within the framework of the larger academic community.