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Mission of the University
VCU is a public, urban, research university, supported by Virginia to serve the people of
the state and the nation. The university provides a fertile and stimulating environment for learning,
teaching, research, creative expression, and public service. Essential to the life of the university is
the faculty actively engaged in scholarship and creative exploration -- activities that increase knowledge
and understanding of the world and inspire and enrich teaching.
The university is dedicated to educating full-time and part-time students of all ages and
backgrounds in an atmosphere of free inquiry and scholarship so they may realize their full potential as
informed, productive citizens with a lifelong commitment to learning and service.
The university serves the local, state, national,
and international communities through its scholarly activities,
its diverse educational programs, and its public service activities.
As an institution of higher learning in a metropolitan center that
is also the state capital, the university enjoys unique resources
that enrich its programs. The university also contributes its intellectual
and creative expertise in the development of innovative approaches
to meet the changing needs of our society.
The goals of VCU in carrying out its mission are to:
- Provide undergraduate education that includes a broad and rigorous
foundation in the arts, sciences, and humanities, and explores
the ideas and values of humankind.
- Offer nationally and internationally recognized professional
and graduate programs leading to doctoral, master's, and other
terminal and advanced degrees in the professions, the sciences,
humanities, and arts.
- Foster a scholarly climate that inspires creativity, a free
and open exchange of ideas, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity,
freedom of expression, and intellectual integrity.
- Expand the boundaries of knowledge and understanding through
research, scholarship, and creative expression in the sciences,
arts, humanities, and professional disciplines.
- Value and promote racial and cultural diversity in its student
body, faculty, administration, and staff to enhance and enrich
the university.
- Develop and sustain a faculty of the highest quality by providing
an environment conducive to their achieving and maintaining national
and international stature and by continuing to attract both recognized
scholars and other outstanding individuals with a high potential
for scholarly achievement and excellence in teaching.
- Provide an optimal environment for educating and training health
care professionals, for conducting research to improve health
care and delivery, and for meeting the needs of patients and the
community in a comprehensive health care setting.
- Use the urban environment as a laboratory for studying and developing
new approaches to problems pertaining to the public and private
sectors.
- Support, through its commitment to public exhibitions, performances,
and other cultural activities, the imaginative power of the liberal,
visual, and performing arts to express the problems and aspirations
of humanity and to enrich the lives of individuals.
- Develop innovative programs for continuing education that establish
permanent intellectual connections between the university and
its constituents, enhance professional competence, and promote
dialogue on public issues.
- Offer diverse opportunities for individuals to benefit from
higher education through a variety of avenues to include flexible
scheduling for part-time undergraduate and graduate students,
open admission for non-degree-seeking students with appropriate
preparation, advanced degree programs for working professionals,
selected programs in diverse locales, admission of graduates with
appropriate associate degrees in arts or sciences, and support
programs for specially admitted students.
- Promote interdisciplinary studies within the university to bring
new perspectives to bear on complex problems. Mobilize its creative
energies and its expertise to meet the needs of society and individuals
in its unique role as Virginia's major urban university.
[Source: VCU 1994-1995 Undergraduate Bulletin, pp.
2-3.]
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