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3.1.1 – Institutional |
The
institution has a clear and comprehensive mission statement that guides it; is
approved by the governing board; is periodically reviewed by the board; and is
communicated to the institution’s constituencies.
_X__ Compliance
___ Partial Compliance
___ Non-Compliance
Statement of Rationale for
Judgment of Compliance:
The
A&M-Texarkana mission is clear in that it identifies the
institution’s primary focus as providing access to educational opportunities
and services (lines 2-3). It further explains that the university stresses
continuing intellectual development or life-long learning (line 13), encourages faculty and staff to provide community
service (lines 20-22), and promotes action
research within the community (line 27).
The
A&M-Texarkana mission is comprehensive in that it defines the role scope and
mission of the institution. The role of
the institution is to serve as an upper-level university (line 4), serving both traditional and
non-traditional students (lines 8-9) with junior, senior and master’s-level courses. The scope is to concentrate as a regional university (line 4)
on meeting the educational needs of the
residents of
The
mission guides the university
by providing a focus for planning and for budgeting. Each planning unit in the
university must relate its purpose statement to the university
mission. Each
unit develops its plan by relating each department objective both to a university
goal and to the unit’s
purpose statement.
The unit’s statement of purpose must be linked to the University Mission Statement to maintain continuity with the institutional purpose, but it must be sufficiently definitive to distinguish this unit from every other in the university.
Each
objective
should relate (1) to some element or elements of the unit’s SWOT analysis, (2)
to a university Action Strategy, and (3) to the unit’s Statement of Purpose.
The
mission also guides the
university in the prioritization of budget
requests. Each unit’s request must identify which institutional goal it relates
to and prioritize the budget item requests as they relate to that goal.
The
mission is approved by the Texas A&M University System
Board of Regents
(BOR) and by the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board (CB), and is periodically reviewed by both the BOR and the CB.
The mission is communicated to the institution’s constituencies through the University Catalog and the web site.
1 The mission of
Texas A&M University-Texarkana (A&M-Texarkana) is to provide
2
residents of
3 educational opportunities and
services. Within the scope of
its legislative mandate
4 as
an upper- level
regional university, A&M-Texarkana offers a broad array of
5 undergraduate and
an increasing number of master's-level programs and is
6 committed to meeting the
educational needs of its students.
7 The university
serves the broadest possible spectrum of its constituency including
8 both the
traditional students transferring from a community college and the non-
9 traditional adult student
returning to update or complete his or her education. It is
10 our
belief that higher education should be accessible for all qualified students,
11 emphasizing the
importance of cultural diversity in the learning environment.
12 A
cornerstone of university philosophy is the belief that education should form a
13 foundation
for continuing intellectual development or lifelong learning while
14 preparing
individuals for gainful employment. Thus, A&M-Texarkana stresses
15 the
development of interpersonal interactions that will enhance work and personal
16 relations,
and the abilities to think critically and communicate effectively with
17 others.
Because the work place of the future will require higher-level skills, A&M-
18
19 economy
and society.
20 The
university also emphasizes its community service role by encouraging the
21 active
participation of faculty and staff in providing services to area civic,
22
governmental and business organizations and by providing professional
23 development
to serve the entire community and region.
24 In
both its teaching and community service roles, the institution seeks to be
25 responsive
to the needs of both the public and private sectors of our region as
26 well
as to those of the larger society. The university responds to regional needs
27 by conducting
action research and providing training, internships, and
28 community
service to regional agencies, businesses, and schools.
Organizational
unit responsible for this requirement: Office of the President