Mission and Goals of the College of
Behavioral and Social Sciences¹

 Mission Statement

The Mission of the College of Behavioral & Social Sciences is to provide and promote teaching, scholarship and service that enhances appreciation and understanding of the behavioral, social and natural mosaic of life on earth and promotes active engagement in shaping our world.

Goals

1. To maintain a rich and challenging intellectual environment which:
   1. Generates excitement and enthusiasm in teaching and learning
   2. Strives to build and maintain a pluralistic, inter-cultural learning community where diverse experiences and cultures are respected
   3. Prepares students for effective participation in their families, communities, nations and the larger world
   4. Promotes a healthy skepticism for superficial answers to complex questions
   5. Provides opportunities for intellectual discourse and exchange
   6. Maintains a healthy, collegial environment for faculty and staff
2. To offer a curriculum which:
   1. Includes a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on human experience through time and across space
   2. Provides a foundation in the knowledge base of the behavioral and social sciences
   3. Acknowledges and is responsive to changing intellectual paradigms
   4. Promotes an understanding of the history, institutions and culture of the United States and its role in the world
   5. Recognizes and is responsive to changing societal needs including issues of social justice and environmental sustainability
   6. Expands our students’ sense of possibilities for themselves and for their communities
3. To build and maintain healthy, strong departments and programs which
   1. Ensure students learn effectively in their majors, minors, and other courses
   2. Prepare and support students in moving on to jobs, careers and/or advanced study as they desire
   3. Offer sufficient courses and sections to mount their existing and/or planned curriculum
   4. Attract and retain a critical mass of students to maintain a strong and varied curriculum
   5. Maintain a critical core of faculty, given curricular requirements and student demand
4. To actively encourage faculty and student research and scholarship within and across disciplines by:
   1. Providing a variety of opportunities and supports for conducting and presenting research and scholarship
   2. Recognizing faculty and student achievements in research and scholarship and publicizing these achievements to the larger college and campus community
5. To play a central role in serving communities locally, nationally and globally through applied research and other faculty and student activities by:
   1. Actively encouraging student participation in internships and community fieldwork experiences and other service learning activities
   2. Recognizing and rewarding faculty engagement with the larger world
   3. Promoting faculty and staff participation in university governance
   4. Facilitating faculty service to professional organizations in their field

¹Adopted by Dean Joel Kassiola and the BSS Council of Chairs September 30, 2003.