New Mission Statement for Student Affairs

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:34:00 -0400
campus-culture, campus-services

If you've attended a Welcome Week program, participated in a leadership retreat, sought medical care on campus, lived in a residence hall, joined a student organization, shot pool in the Commons Game Room, danced at a Ballroom event, attended a campus job fair or ridden a UMBC Transit bus, you've been touched directly or indirectly by UMBC's Division of Student Affairs. The Division encompasses the Offices of Residential Life, Student Life and Off Campus and Transfer Student Services, The Commons, Event Planning and Conference Services, University Health Services, University Counseling Services, Transit Services, Student Judicial Programs and the Career Services Center.

What I find remarkable and inspiring about the Division's new mission statement is that it unites all of these different departments and their myriad initiatives, programs and services behind the shared purpose of student learning and success. Here is the complete statement:

The Division of Student Affairs facilitates learning and prepares students for success in our multi-cultural and increasingly global society and work force.

We will accomplish our mission by:

providing and co-creating programs, services, systems, facilities and environments that foster learning and personal development.

collaborating with and facilitating relationships between students and among students, faculty, staff and others from the university and community to integrate curricular and co-curricular experiences.

leveraging the expertise within Student Affairs to assist faculty, staff and students in areas of strength such as interpersonal and cultural competence; civic engagement, community and leadership development; work force and career development; public health and safety.

To me, it's impressively--and appropriately--ambitious to envision students' many interactions with all of the Division's offices as opportunities for real learning and growth. It's an especially inspiring commitment in light of the statement's acknowledgment of students as partners and co-creators of their experiences. It makes all the difference that the Division aspires to carry out its work with students, rather than just providing information and services to students.

In addition to the mission statement, the Division has adopted the following strategic priorities:

supporting students' success and retention

preparing students for work, civic engagement and leadership

fostering public health and safety, and

enhancing life skills and interaction.

I participated in a meeting yesterday at which leaders from the Division's various departments started to develop plans for shared work to address these priorities and fulfill the commitment set forth in the mission statement. There is plenty already happening in the Division relating to the strategic priorities, but the participants started to identify gaps and envision new collaborations. As UMBC's Vice President for Student Affairs Nancy Young observed, translating these broad principles and priorities into practice will require that Student Affairs staff engage in the same sort of democratic interaction and problem solving that we hope to help students master. It's a good challenge for the months ahead.

So what do you think? What aspects of the new mission statement and strategic priorities surprise or intrigue you, and what questions do they raise for you?