The College of Wooster

http://www.wooster.edu
1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, Ohio 44691
(330) 263-2000

Mission Statement Our institutional purpose Why we exist and what we seek to accomplish The College of Wooster is a community of independent minds, working together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence in an interdependent global community. We engage motivated students in a rigorous and dynamic liberal education. Mentored by a faculty nationally recognized for excellence in teaching, Wooster graduates are creative and independent thinkers with exceptional abilities to ask important questions, research complex issues, solve problems, and communicate new knowledge and insight. Wooster’s Core Values: The values that govern our shared pursuits Ideas that we ...show more »hold true Education in the Liberal Arts Tradition: We believe that the most valuable approach to undergraduate education engages each student in a course of study that cultivates curiosity and develops independent judgment, creativity, breadth, depth, integration of knowledge, and intellectual skills in the tradition of liberal education tuned for the contemporary era. A Focus on Research and Collaboration: At Wooster, faculty and students are co-learners, collaborating in liberal inquiry. Our faculty’s commitment to excellence in teaching is nationally recognized for enabling students to realize their full potential as engaged scholars. We embrace unique pedagogical principles at Wooster: that research and teaching are integrated forms of inquiry, and that faculty and students share a common purpose in their pursuits of knowledge, insight, and creative expression. A Community of Learners: Wooster is a residential liberal arts college. As such, we believe the learning process unfolds on our campus and beyond, in conversations in classrooms and residence halls, libraries and studios, laboratories and on playing fields, and through the relationships that develop between and among students, faculty and staff and which endure long after graduation. We recognize that the very process of living together educates, and that much of the learning that is part of our mission takes place through artistic expression, the performance of music, theater, and dance, athletics, community involvement, and in the myriad student organizations that infuse vitality in campus life. We embrace a holistic philosophy of education and seek to nurture the physical, social, and spiritual well-being of our students. Independence of Thought: We are a community of independent minds, working together. We place the highest value on collegiality, collaboration, openness to persons and ideas in all of their variety, and the free exchange of different points of view. We vigorously champion academic freedom, and seek to sustain a campus culture where the understanding of each is made more complete through an on-going process of dialogue with others who think differently. Social and Intellectual Responsibility: As a community of learners, we hold ourselves to high standards of sound evidence, careful reasoning, proper attribution, and intellectual and personal integrity in all activities of teaching, learning, research, and governance. We recognize the privilege of being able, collectively, to pursue the mission of the College. We therefore seek to extend the benefits of learning beyond the campus and beyond ourselves, endeavoring to analyze problems, create solutions, exercise civic and intellectual leadership, and contribute to the welfare of humanity and the environment. Diversity and Inclusivity: Wooster actively seeks students, faculty, and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds, starting places, experiences, and beliefs. We believe that achieving our educational purpose is only possible in a diverse community of learners. Therefore, we value members who bring a diversity of identities and beliefs to our common purpose, and who reflect a diversity of voices as varied as those our students will engage upon graduation. Vision Statement: The future to which we aspire Our collective endeavor is to prosper as a distinguished independent liberal arts college, to thrive as a vigorous intellectual community, and to create a reputation that reflects our achievements. We seek to be leaders in liberal learning, building on our tradition of graduating independent thinkers who are well prepared to seek solutions to significant problems, to create and communicate new knowledge and insight, and to make significant contributions to our complex and interdependent world. «show less