MISSION STATEMENT

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved for Sam Houston State University a mission (role and scope) statement, consistent with Section 61.051(d) of the Texas Education Code on January 24, 1986. The Table of Programs was updated to reflect the Coordinating Board-approved expansion on October 17, 1997.

Sam Houston State University is a multi-purpose state university that exists to meet the needs of a civilized community by providing to the community educational opportunities and resources of the highest quality. The university has evolved into a federation of colleges and programs which provides a climate of intellectual freedom with academic programs to enable its students to become informed, thoughtful, and productive citizens with the skills necessary to evaluate issues critically and to appreciate the cultural and aesthetic values of life. To fulfill its mission, the university is committed to:

¥ Maintain excellence in instruction, research, and public service.

¥ Secure and retain a highly qualified and dedicated faculty and support staff.

¥ Maintain high academic and professional standards for faculty, students, and staff.

¥ Admit and retain qualified and motivated students.

¥ Provide a library of the highest quality capable of supporting instruction, research, and public service programs.

¥ Provide an intellectual and social climate conducive to the fullest development of students.

¥ Provide a state-of-the-art computer facility capable of supporting instruction, research, and public service programs.

¥ Admit transfer students from other degree-granting institutions and from junior or community colleges in accordance with applicable standards.

¥ Provide early admission programs to gifted high school students who meet the necessary entrance requirements.

¥ Provide the necessary physical facilities and resources for the attainment of the university’s goals.

Instruction
 Excellence in instruction is considered foremost in enhancing the educational process. The university has assembled a community of teaching scholars whose goal is to give meaning to the separate elements of our civilization so that students of all disciplines can analyze, study, and organize the diverse elements of knowledge, thereby giving conscious direction to the human mind. To fulfill its commitment to excellence in instruction, the university seeks to: ¥ Proclaim a unity of knowledge by emphasizing the mutual interdependence of all studies.

¥ Provide a strong liberal arts framework for all instructional programs.

¥ Provide pre-professional, professional, and technical training in a variety of specialized programs.

¥ Offer a wide range of academic studies in both undergraduate and graduate programs to prepare students for meaningful careers that will contribute to their personal welfare and to the cultural and economic development of the state, the nation, and the world.

¥ Provide doctoral curricula for which there are needs and in which the university and its faculty have competencies.

¥ Provide a professional staff to assist the student body in academic, career, and personal counseling.

¥ Provide a supervised extracurricular program offering students opportunities to develop interests and skills in group activities and leadership through participation in student government, interest-centered organizations, social groups, honor societies, and athletic, forensic, journalistic, and fine arts activities.
Research

Creative activity is recognized as an indispensable function of the institution if its instruction is to have the relevance, freshness, and effectiveness expected of an institution of higher learning. Knowledge is indeed an end in itself and one which has value that may properly be called inestimable since it cannot be expressed in terms of any other value.

The university holds that the term research applies to creativity in all fields. To encourage the discovery and advancement of human knowledge, the university seeks to:

¥ Provide an environment that encourages systematic inquiry into both practical and purely intellectual problems.

¥ Encourage the intellectual development of its students and faculty through access to the record of human experience.

¥ Support responsible inquiry of old and new ideas by testing their validity and significance.

¥ Share the results of its research activities with the academic community, the business and professional world, and the public at-large to enhance the overall quality of life.

¥ Provide academic, pre-professional, and career curriculum research opportunities in the applied arts and sciences, the physical and life sciences, teacher education, the fine arts, business administration, criminal justice system, the behavioral and social sciences, the humanities, and other related fields.
Public Service

The university acknowledges its responsibility to serve as the nucleus for the cultural and intellectual development of students and members of the community outside the framework of formal course work. To provide this service, the university seeks to:

¥ Share its expertise and resources with individuals and groups through consultant services and applied research.

¥ Work with other consortia, institutions, agencies, and civic groups to exchange ideas, to share mutual concerns, and to foster intellectual growth.

¥ Provide its expertise to other public institutions at the local, state, national, and international levels.

¥ Provide services such as continuing adult education, correspondence courses, institutes, conferences, and services to educational, business, community, and social organizations.

 Within this mission, the university seeks to maintain sufficient flexibility to develop its creative resources to the fullest so that it can adapt to changing educational and social needs. It is committed to the development of innovative programs, while at the same time striving to maintain the highest quality in the traditional curricula. The university operates on the assumption that a free society depends upon an enlightened citizenry capable of making wise and responsible choices and that it can make an important contribution to the development and guardianship of such enlightenment.

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