Who Do We Say We Are? Publically Proclaiming One’s University Mission Identity

Abstract

While U.S. colleges and universities ponder their mission, vision, values, and virtues, researchers at a large, urban, Catholic, patron-identity university actively engaged in empirical assessments of “who we say we are.” In this themed issue, faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students are a research team engaged in quantitative and qualitative analysis of their school's mission identity and mission-driven activities. Results from several sets of studies around student perceptions and impact of mission are presented and discussed. School administrators and those interested in community engagement impacts on students may find these articles useful and informative.

KEYWORDS:

• academic settings
• campus community
• Catholic universities
• higher education
• students

Acknowledgments

The authors express gratitude to Fr. Edward Udovic and Georgianna Torres Reyes of the DePaul Office of Mission & Values for their continued support over the past eight years on our series of assessment of students, faculty, staff, administration, students of color, Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders. Their vision of the importance of assessing how well we do the “good” that we engage is invaluable.