Siena Heights Course Catalogs | Page 7

Siena Heights University Mission Statement The mission of Siena Heights, a Catholic university founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, is to assist people to become more competent, purposeful, and ethical through a teaching and learning environment which respects the dignity of all. Mission of the Graduate College The mission of the Graduate College is to help students integrate theory into practice. The graduate programs support the mission of Siena Heights University by fostering the personal and professional living of a purposeful, competent, and ethical life. In the spirit of St. Dominic Guzman, who began the Dominican Order, or the Order of Preachers, the graduate programs encourage contemplation and the sharing of the fruits of that contemplation. Student Goals In light of its mission statement, Siena Heights has devised a set of specific educational goals. The University: 1. Provides for the development of skills necessary for individual survival and success in post- industrial society. These are the skills of conflict resolution, forecasting, systemic thinking, creative management, information usage, problem solving, decision-making, group facilitation, leadership, and independent learning. 2. Commits itself to challenge each of its students to expand his or her abilities in the primary realms of communication (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and in the computational area. 3. Provides encounters in which its students will be asked to examine the assumptions upon which they are basing their lives. 4. Maintains a process through which students will explore career options and clarify their own career expectations. 5. Provides encounters with moral dilemmas for its students in the hope that these may lead to greater ethical sensitivity. 6. Believes that each graduate should have mastered a variety of challenges which require the use of skills gained in his or her educational program. 7. Endeavors to provide in-depth educational programs in selected disciplines and professions. The University believes that each in-depth program should be characterized by statements of outcomes which should characterize a graduate of that particular program. 8. Believes in the education of the total person and will adjust its curriculum to provide for the developmental needs of its students. Institutional Goals In light of its Mission Statement, Siena Heights has devised a set of specific institutional goals. In order to maintain institutional viability, the University: 1. Places emphasis on quality instruction and maintains a standard of excellence. The University commits itself to utilizing periodic program and faculty evaluation in developing high quality instruction. 2. Strives to locate highly qualified faculty or staff members for each position as it becomes available. 3. Intends to be an experimenting institution. It seeks continually to deliver education more effectively through the creative employment of new teaching styles and learning environments. 4. Identifies the personnel needs of local and regional communities and prepares the professionals and paraprofessionals needed in these areas. 5. Seeks to gain national attention for its educational approaches so that it might make an institutional impact upon the continuing national debate about the nature and purposes of contemporary post-secondary education. 6. Epitomizes in its own structure and practices a society in which each individual involved may have maximum opportunities both for personal growth and for participation in the life of the University community. Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog 2016-2018 6