Augusta State University - Archived Mission Statement
This mission statement was superseded February 2005. Current mission statement
Augusta State University is committed to excellence in teaching, advancement of knowledge, and enrichment of the community in a climate that fosters humane values and a life-long love of learning. With origins in the founding of the Academy of Richmond County in 1783 and the creation of a separate Junior College of Augusta in 1925, its mission is predicated on the cultural, social, and economic value of a strong liberal arts education that enlarges its students' individual versatility, creative powers, cultural appreciation, knowledge of the world, respect for others, and professional expertise.
Augusta State University strives to be a national model of excellence for its quality of service to the second largest metropolitan area in Georgia. With a broad array of undergraduate programs and a select offering of graduate programs below the doctoral level, it functions as a metropolitan, non-residential university for the area.
Open to the voices of all its members, the University serves a population diverse in race, back-ground, age, and preparation. It provides access not only to those who are fully ready for college but also to the underprepared who show potential and to those seeking the kind of academic challenge normally associated with elite, private institutions.
Emphasizing student-faculty contact, the University fosters intellectual growth through learning assistance, honors courses, and student research. It promotes electronic information technologies and links students with the world community of scholarship.
The University collaborates with the Medical College of Georgia, Paine College, Augusta Technical Institute, Fort Gordon, and P-12 schools. It makes constant, programmatic use of local industries, agencies, and institutions as laboratories for practical learning experiences. In an area with a large health care industry, it provides undergraduate general education courses for the Medical College students, prepares students to enter programs at that institution, and educates others to work in the medical field. It is also the principal source of training for the area's teachers and business leaders.
Augusta State University is acutely conscious of its responsibility to a community where its graduates become teachers and artists, professionals and civic leaders. It seeks to serve: enriching its area culturally, improving economic and social conditions, and promoting personal and professional development. To these ends, the University cultivates intellectually vital faculty members who are excellent in teaching, active in research, generous in service, and committed to its mission. The University also strives to have its faculty, staff, curriculum, and programs reflect the increasing diversity of the population and world from which its students come.
Devoted to constant improvement, the University assesses its performance by evaluating its stewardship of resources, responsiveness to area needs, involvement with its community, the response of the public it serves, and, most importantly, the success of the students it educates.
The University shares with other senior units of the University System of Georgia the following characteristics:
- a supportive campus climate, necessary services, and leadership and development opportunities, all to educate the whole person and meet the needs of students, faculty and staff;
- cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in the faculty, staff and student body, supported by practices and programs that embody the ideals of an open, democratic, and global society;
- technology to advance educational purposes, including instructional technology, student support services, and distance education;
- collaborative relationships with other System institutions, State agencies, local schools and technical institutes, and business and industry, sharing physical, human, information, and other resources to expand and enhance programs and services available to the citizens of Georgia;
- a commitment to excellence and responsiveness within a scope of influence defined by the needs of an area of the state, and by particularly outstanding programs or distinctive characteristics that have a magnet effect throughout the region or state;
- a commitment to a teaching/learning environment, both inside and outside the classroom, that sustains instructional excellence, serves a diverse and college-prepared student body, promotes high levels of student achievement, offers academic assistance, and provides developmental studies programs for a limited student cohort;
- a high quality general education program supporting a variety of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and professional academic programming at the baccalaureate level, with selected master's and educational specialist degrees, and selected associate degree programs based on area need and/or interinstitutional collaborations;
- a commitment to public service, continuing education, technical assistance, and economic development activities that address the needs, improve the quality of life, and raise the educational level within the university's scope of influence;
- a commitment to scholarly and creative work to enhance instructional effectiveness and to encourage faculty scholarly pursuits, and a commitment to applied research in selected areas of institutional strength and area need.