Helping students learn so that they may become productive, creative, ethical, engaged citizens and leaders.
Academic Affairs Planning Documents
UCO's Beliefs and Values
Preamble
Great institutions must have a clear mission, based on beliefs and values
which are shared by those who carry out that mission. In order to clarify
and articulate those beliefs and values which are the basis of our
institutional direction and action, this document is offered as the first
element of UCO's long range plan.
Beliefs and Values
UCO's fundamental responsibility is excellent teaching, which involves
instilling and fostering in students the joy of learning, the ability to think
critically and a desire to achieve their creative potential.
Our other major responsibilities include scholarly activities, research and
service to students, to other individuals and to the larger community.
A college degree should represent an education which enables its
recipients to become good citizens and responsible, independent adults
who embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor.
Great universities must require and encourage a free flow of information,
ideas and opinions in a community which fosters social justice, values
diversity and demands the highest standards of ethical conduct, mutual
respect and civility.
UCO as an institution, and all its constituents, must be committed to
continuous processes of self-examination and self-improvement which
encourage innovation, receptiveness and adaptation to change.
UCO must seek and maintain open and mutually beneficial relationships
with its surrounding communities, and must also view itself and its
graduates as part of an increasingly interdependent global society.
July 24, 2008