This week, millions around the world watched the Super Bowl and all of the ads and festivities surrounding it. Both the Patriots and Falcons had one goal—to win. The goal was clear. The players, coaches, employees, fans, and owners have the shared generic vision of having one of the best team franchises with winning records. However, the NFL has a specific mission that speaks about more than winning; it speaks to the league’s values. Syracuse is no different; we have a mission and vision, and the goal is for every element of the University community to strive to achieve both.
It is important that each member of our university community—regardless of your position (staff, faculty, students, administrators, or members of the various boards)—know what our mission and vision are.
The vision reads:
Syracuse University aspires to be a pre-eminent and inclusive student-focused research university, preparing engaged citizens, scholars, and leaders for participation in a changing global society.
The mission is:
As a university with the capacity to attract and engage the best scholars from around the world, yet small enough to support a personalized and academically rigorous student experience, Syracuse University faculty and staff support student success by:
- Encouraging global study, experiential learning, interdisciplinary scholarship, creativity, and entrepreneurial endeavors
- Balancing professional studies with an intensive liberal arts education
- Fostering a richly diverse and inclusive community of learning and opportunity
- Promoting a culture of innovation and discovery
- Supporting faculty, staff, and student collaboration in creative activity and research that address emerging opportunities and societal needs
- Maintaining pride in our location and history as a place of access, engagement, innovation, and impact
The Middle States accrediting process focuses its analysis around how Syracuse University is working to fulfill our mission through our:
- approach to ethics and integrity
- curriculum and other student learning experiences
- support for student experiences
- assessment and institutional effectiveness measures
- planning, resources, and approaches to institutional improvement
- governance, leadership, and administration
As One University, we must strive in our individual realms of influence to fulfill our mission and to achieve our vision. When the Middle States visiting team comes to do our peer evaluation for the decennial reaccreditation review, they will want to see that we believe in the mission and are striving to achieve it.