May 23, 2003 Feature Story
University
Mission and Role Statements Set Vision for Future
 As
the emerging vision of Utah State University's future comes
into focus, administrators are working to define that vision
on paper, describing with the printed word where Utah State
is as an institution and where it is going.
In a new mission and role statement, the administration has
laid out a roadmap for the university community. The destination
is the successful positioning of Utah State as a premier research
land-grant and space-grant institution. Central to university
goals is an emphasis on academics and a strong commitment to
learning, discovery and engagement.
These two statements are designed to give each member of the
Utah State community a similar concept and feeling for the future
of the university as well as help each person determine where
he or she fits in as the institution moves ahead. The mission
statement defines Utah State, and the role statement creates
the steps whereby the university can climb to new heights.
President Hall welcomes comments and questions about these
two significant items. Please feel free to email him with feedback
at kermit.hall@usu.edu.
Utah State University Mission Statement
The mission of Utah State University is to be one of the nation's
premier student-centered land-grant and space-grant universities
by fostering the principle that academics come first; by cultivating
diversity of thought and culture; and by serving the public
through learning, discovery, and engagement.
Utah State University Role Statement
Utah State University fulfills a unique role in the Utah System
of Higher Education as the state's land-grant and space-grant
university. The land-grant designation makes Utah State responsible
for programs in agriculture, business, education, engineering,
natural resources, sciences, and the traditional core of liberal
learning—humanities, arts, and social sciences. The university
gives particular emphasis to programs involving the interaction
of land, people, and the environment.
Utah State University also is a research extensive university,
as designated by the Carnegie Corporation, meaning that in selected
areas historically associated with its designation as a land-grant
and space-grant university, it provides doctoral and master's
level education and supports and expects of its faculty significant
research efforts. The university offers a broad array of doctoral
and master's level degrees in areas appropriate to its mission.
Hands-on learning is also a hallmark of its undergraduate programs.
As a space-grant institution, Utah State University plays a
preeminent role in the development of the sciences and engineering
associated with research and teaching about outer space. These
include the mission of the Space Dynamics Laboratory and its
related components on the Innovation Campus.
Utah State develops knowledge as part of its discovery mission,
as reflected in research generated by the Agricultural Experiment
Station and the Utah Water Research Lab, and disseminates that
knowledge through technical assistance provided by Cooperative
Extension in each of the state's twenty-nine counties. The land-grant
mission also means that Utah State delivers degrees through
continuing education programs, whether through on-site or technology-
delivered, time-enhanced methods, throughout the state.
Taken together these designations as a land-grant and space-grant
university also mean that Utah State University has a leading
role in economic development of the state and the region. These
goals are realized through the effective transfer of research
from the laboratory to commercial enterprises. To that end,
Utah State University has an aggressive position in the identification
of intellectual property, the commercialization of new technologies,
and the development of research programs that will be of benefit
to the state. It also brings government, business, and education
together on its Innovation Campus, with the goal of stimulating
economic development.
The Board of Regents will support Utah State University by
seeking to make it one of the premier land-grant and space-grant
universities in the nation. To do so, it will:
1. Support a budgeting system that selectively invests resources
in the development of programs focused on its role as a land-grant
and space-grant university. In so doing, the university will
give emphasis to the following:
- Aerospace Research and Education
- Environmental and Water Resources
- Engineering and Computer Sciences
- Agricultural and Natural Resource Bio-technology
- Education and Human Services
- Extension and Continuing Education
- Selected Fine and Performing Arts Through
a School of the Arts
- Selected Humanities, Social Science, and
Business Programs
2. Support the development of measures of assessment and accountability
for the institution that will be used both within the university
and externally in making decisions about funding and program
support.
3. Seek differential funding support that recognizes its state-wide
role and that will support the efforts of the university to
improve instruction at all levels, to facilitate discovery,
and to promote its various engagement efforts to make it competitive
with its peer institutions.
4. Support a program of increased admission standards at the
baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels competitive with
its peer institutions.
5. Support the goal of increasing the ratio of graduate-to-undergraduate
enrollment to a level commensurate with our peer institutions.
6. Support enrollment consistent with our resource base including
faculty size and institutional aspirations of academic excellence.
7. Support flexibility in setting tuition rates to place Utah
State University in a competitive position with its peer institutions.
8. Support the use of tuition dollars to enhance academic programs
and the use of selective investment by the university of these
and other resources to achieve its mission.
9. Support the development of cooperative and collaborative
relationships by Utah State with other institutions in the state
designed to foster its land-grant and space-grant mission.
10. Support a socially and intellectually vibrant campus community,
enhanced by the diversity of its faculty, staff, and students.
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