Meeting the NCA Criterion... Criterion 1 || Criterion 2 || Criterion 3 || Criterion 4 || Criterion 5
CRITERION 1: "THE INSTITUTION HAS CLEAR AND PUBLICLY STATED PURPOSES CONSISTENT WITH ITS MISSION AND APPROPRIATE TO AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION." In its many publications about its programs, the University expresses a consistent view of its mission and vision. The following statement, first adopted by the Board of Regents in 1968, articulates both the overall mission of the University and states its specific purposes. This statement is made available upon request. In recent years, common use has been to develop succinct statements of mission and vision. The University has adapted a briefer version, appended to the end of this mission statement, that is based upon the principles contained below. THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN (ANN ARBOR) IN The University of Michigan is one of a small number of state universities consistently ranked in the top ten American universities by various measures of quality, both in general academic terms and in terms of strength of offerings in specific professional subjects and other academic disciplines. In common with these peers, the University of Michigan is a large complex university, offering a wide range of degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels and contributing to the State and the Nation through related research and service programs. Historical Development Distinguished universities become so only over a long period of time. National and international eminence is difficult to attain in education, as it is in other fields. Once attained, it is not to be lightly forsaken. The University of Michigan, organized in Detroit by Territory of Michigan in 1817 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 when Michigan became a state, is the prototype of the constitutionally autonomous state university and the first of all state institutions to achieve national distinction. President Tappan, coming to the University in 1852, played a key role in this development. He was one of the first educational leaders to recruit distinguished scientists to the faculty; he established a major astronomical observatory, and, under his leadership, Michigan became the second university in the country to grant the Bachelor of Science degree (1855). In the post-Civil War bulge, 1865-66, Michigan enrolled 1,205 students and edged out Harvard for the first time to become the biggest university in the land. In 1867, President Haven described the University in language that might well apply to the present day. During the past year the following number have graduated: Mining Engineer, 2; Civil Engineer, 6; Bachelor of Science, 10; Bachelor of Arts, 27; Master of Science, 6; Master of Arts, 6; Doctor of Medicine, 82; Bachelor of Law, 146. The honorary degree of LL.D. has also been conferred upon one. Total 286. So large a number of young men - the largest attending any university in the country - have not been accommodated without difficulty. The recitation and lecture-rooms of the Literary Department have been in some instances inconveniently crowded, the passage ways and stair ways in the old building originally designed for dormitories, now used for recitation and lecture room, are too narrow for the multitudes that pass and re-pass each other there. It is intimated that the University is aspiring endeavors to absorb or overshadow other institutions of learning. Nothing can be more false and unreasonable. That the University is prosperous of course is acknowledged. But is this a crime Must it put itself in the position of a feeble, perishing thing to excite sympathy It asks aid, not because it will perish, not even because it will positively retrograde without it, but because it is in a position to use well any additional resources, because it needs more room and capital to use its reputation and opportunities for the greatest possible result, and because if not aided, other State Universities will soon surpass it. Graduate work began early. The first master's degree was offered in 1849; the first Doctor of Medicine in 1851; the first Bachelor of Law in 1860, and the first Ph.D. in 1867. The Graduate School was formally established in 1892. Michigan became one of the 14 charter members of the Association of American Universities in 1900. Present Programs And Degree Production The University of Michigan today offers instruction in a wide range of academic disciplines at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctor's level. In 1998-99, this University awarded 6,995 Bachelor's degrees; 3,568 Master's and intermediate professional degrees; 620 Candidate's Certificates; 611 graduate-professional degrees, and 650 doctorates. It is of interest to note that from 1845 through the present, the University has conferred over 579,000 degrees in course. The cumulative economic, cultural and intellectual contribution of these graduates to the State is beyond calculation. The various degree programs, undergraduate, graduate, and professional, are offered within the framework of approximately 130 departmental units in 19 schools, colleges, and divisions, plus U.M.- Flint and U.M.-Dearborn. The number and type of degree programs the University offers is constantly evolving as new programs are developed and existing programs are reevaluated and improved as sets of course offerings are regrouped, re-categorized, or renamed, particularly at the advanced degree level. The scope of the University today makes possible many activities that are possible only given the critical mass of a large scholarly community. In addition, specialized professional schools in Ann Arbor constitute a critical mass in their own right, offering their students and faculties advantages of access to the entire scholarly community. All faculties and students benefit from the availability of major university resources, such as networked computing facilities and a nationally recognized library. Broad-scale scholarly research is possible, not only because of the continuing possibility of the support of scholarship provided both from within and from outside of the University. Interdisciplinary studies are encouraged within such broad areas as the social sciences, the natural sciences, the humanities, and the biological and health sciences. New fields of study often cross the boundaries of many of these traditional divisions of learning. Regroupings of existing courses and faculties often occur as new areas of study emerge. For example, teaching and research programs have developed in such new combinations of existing strengths as macromolecular science and engineering, applied and interdisciplinary mathematics, the program in biomedical sciences, and the program in manufacturing. The ability of the University to respond to changing areas of scholarship is further aided by the presence of various research institutes that coordinate multidisciplinary efforts. Such institutes, staffed by faculty with joint teaching appointments, help to ensure that the results of current research are quickly assimilated into the body of knowledge taught at the University. These teaching and scholarly pursuits do not occur in a vacuum. Additional intellectual stimulation is provided to students and faculty alike by frequent public lectures, conferences, and symposia. A wide range of cultural and other organized extra-curricular activities lend energy and variety to the campus in music, drama, the fine arts, athletics, and in many other areas. Only a large complex university can offer the full range of such opportunities. In this connection, let it be noted that this document is largely concerned with the Ann Arbor campus of the University. The campuses at Dearborn and Flint, while integral parts of the University of Michigan, are developing their own unique roles and missions. The size and location give them a role that is different from the Ann Arbor campus in many particulars, although they share many of the traditions, resources, values, and principles of the Ann Arbor campus. These emerging roles are described in separate statements. For the remainder of this statement, the Flint and Dearborn campuses will be subsumed under the general description of the University of Michigan. The Major Missions Of The University Any discussion of the role of a modern complex university must recognize that such an institution has at least three vital missions. The first of these is to educate students in the light of certain general educational goals. The second is the preservation and refinement of knowledge already acquired, along with the production, dissemination, and utilization of new knowledge. The third role of the modern university is that of helping to define and assist in the solution of the problems of society. The familiar rubrics "teaching, research, and service" are a shorthand for denoting these three major activities which the University performs. A general statement of aims of a university, prepared by the Faculty Senate subcommittee on the Proper Role of the University of Michigan in 1962 is still relevant: This University - almost any University worthy of the name - is dedicated to scholars and scholarship. The University nurtures both. To some degree, of course, future scholars come to us with capacities to function as students that they have already acquired (or perhaps are born with) and at least latent motivations for scholarly tasks. Yet to a considerable extent, scholars are made in the university environment. Thus, one of our major aims is the inspiration and preparation of scholars, of men and women who will respond to our teaching in the wide variety of ways that knowledge enriches the lives of individuals and societies. In relation to knowledge itself, the University strives for its preservation, transmission and extension, and to initiate patterns of its application to individual and social needs. The University also has a goal of contributing to the growth of citizens, especially of future leaders. This responsibility is often overlooked at the university level because it is such a significant part of the aims of primary and secondary education. This aim of fostering citizen education is one stimulus toward keeping higher education broad so that the scholar, no matter how specialized, may still keep perspective on his relation to man and society. Obviously, a public institution cannot draw sharp boundaries between its students and the rest of the citizens. The University has obligations to make available to the citizens of the state and nation that portion of its specialized knowledge which provides the necessary background for social decision, since it receives funds from both state and federal sources. The University of Michigan can best fulfill the needs of the State that created and supports it by continuing its traditional roles in the areas of teaching, research, and service, while gradually expanding and adapting those roles to meet changing societal and technical needs. The University of Michigan demonstrates that a state university can provide large numbers of people with educational opportunities comparable with those offered by the very best private institutions. Simultaneously, the University provides the State and Nation with highly skilled professional specialists, while remaining at the forefront in the acquisition of new knowledge. An examination of its history shows that although the University has consistently played these roles, it has also been constantly changing in response to new needs and new conditions. The ability to respond in order to serve is one of the hallmarks of a great university. Obviously, some of the University's functions parallel those of other institutions within the State. For example, a degree in liberal arts can be earned at any of the baccalaureate-level institutions, as well as at all of the major universities of the State. On the other hand, a large number of the University's activities are so specialized in nature that they are carried by few or no other institutions in the State, Nation or the world. Often these are the activities associated with the University of Michigan's special national or international prominence, even though they form only a small part of the total University mission. Even where University programs do appear to duplicate those at other State institutions, there are often substantial differences. For example, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts plays a significant double role at the University of Michigan. Not only has it the responsibility of training students in the liberal arts, but also it provides a very large amount of teaching required in other programs - undergraduate, graduate, and professional. Hence, this College of the University fills a much larger function than do the liberal arts offerings to be found at the purely baccalaureate institutions. Many of the other programs of the University have mutual relationships and dependencies so that the distinctive functions of those programs within the University are difficult to compare with those at other institutions. Moreover, the presence of a great library, of art and science museums, of the many distinguished visitors to campus, of important musical and theatrical opportunities and many other features of the intellectual life of the University add qualitative dimensions to most of its programs. Such added dimensions make the comparability of our programs to programs offered elsewhere difficult to assess. In order to fulfill its total educational, research, and service responsibilities to the State, the University of Michigan should continue to offer a full range of programs from the baccalaureate through the post-doctoral levels. As in the past, students from Michigan should continue to be the principal beneficiaries of these programs, although a student body of heterogeneous background should also be maintained. The University has long maintained high standards of admission to its programs, and students of the highest academic qualifications will continue to make up the student body of the University. In addition, the University has recognized its responsibility to the able but educationally disadvantaged student and will continue to make every effort to assist such students in realizing their potential. The relative sizes of the various programs at the different levels will be carefully monitored and regulated in order to maintain the highest quality of operation consistent with available faculty, physical facilities, and the total level of financial support available. The Teaching Mission The University faculty hold a number of general goals for the education of their students. Most of these goals apply at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in the liberal arts and in specialized professional training. At some levels of training, certain of these goals are emphasized, while at other educational levels still other goals are paramount. A faculty report on educational goals suggests that among its responsibilities the University has the obligation to: ... prepare students who
Each instructional program at the University plays a part in meeting these goals, and the achievement of these goals for its students is thus a major role of the University. In the Fall of 1999, 52,602 students were enrolled for residence credit on all campuses of the University of Michigan. This total was composed of 37,128 undergraduates, 12,347 graduates, and 3,127 graduate-professional students. Some of the general characteristics of undergraduate and graduate-professional programs will be discussed in turn. Undergraduate Programs The Undergraduate enrollment at the University is divided among a number of schools, colleges and divisions. Some, like the College of Literature, Science, and Arts, the College of Engineering, and the School of Music, offer full four-year undergraduate programs. Others, like the School of Education and the School of Business Administration, conduct undergraduate major programs for junior and senior students whose first two years were spent in liberal arts preparation. Even in those undergraduate schools such as Engineering and Natural Resources and Environment that conduct four-year programs distinct from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, a substantial proportion of undergraduate instruction consists of liberal arts subjects. At the undergraduate level, the first responsibility of the University is to continue to serve a large number of highly qualified students. These students will be predominantly Michigan residents, whose high academic potential make possible a first-quality undergraduate program with minimal attrition. In addition, the University will continue to work toward its goal of extending educational opportunities to a significant number of promising, though disadvantaged, students. The largest proportion of undergraduate instruction will continue to be offered by the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. The College of LS&A will also continue to offer a considerable portion of its instruction in pre-professional areas, such as law, dentistry, and medicine, as well as in the large numbers of courses required of students in other undergraduate units such as Education, Business Administration, Engineering, Nursing, and Music. A number of specialized educational opportunities exist at the undergraduate level, and, as appropriate, these may be expanded. For example, the Residential College is designed to provide the sense of a small, compact liberal arts college within the University setting. As another example, the Lloyd Scholars Program permits students living in the same dormitory areas to elect courses together. The Bachelor of General Studies program permits students to pursue a broadened liberal arts curriculum. A number of innovative teaching methods and curricular plans have also been developed in other schools and colleges as well. These examples show the desire of our faculties to adapt programs to changing student needs and expectations and to rapidly growing bodies of knowledge. In addition, current societal problems, such as environmental pollution and the decay of the cities, will lead to increased emphasis on these concerns and to the development of opportunities for undergraduate students to prepare for work in these critical areas. As in the past, the undergraduate programs will steadily change to reflect increasing knowledge and its applications to new and significant problems. Honors programs will continue to enrich the studies of increasing proportions of the undergraduate population. In such programs, talented undergraduate students share learning and teaching, research, and internship programs with extraordinarily gifted graduate students. The integration of different but closely related age groups in educational experiences has unusual benefits for all participants. Academically, students aspiring for later graduate or graduate-professional study can derive many advantages from taking their undergraduate work on a campus where advanced studies play a major role. Such exposure may be especially important for a student with high-level career objectives who has begun his college work at a small school with limited offerings. Furthermore, undergraduate students with interests in new and developing areas of knowledge, particularly in interdisciplinary fields, can usually explore those interests only within the setting of a major university. As a state institution, the University of Michigan can perform an important service to the citizens of this State by continuing to offer a full range of undergraduate programs of high quality, both on campus and off-campus. Finally, in practical terms, the most efficient university operation is one which maintains a carefully constructed balance, suited to its own financial structure, among students at all levels. Graduate and Professional Programs The University of Michigan prepares highly qualified students for leadership positions in governments, hospitals, courts, colleges, laboratories--literally, for almost all work endeavors. Such advanced and professional instruction differs from undergraduate instruction in its concentrated nature and in the close faculty-student relationship and individualization of program that is required. Such activity, of which advanced research is an integral part, has state, national, and international importance. In the graduate and professional schools, the University of Michigan should continue its traditional roles not only of supplying physicians, dentists, lawyers, teachers, and other professionals needed within the State, but also providing training for national and international leadership by keeping these units among the very best of their kind in the United States. To do this, high admission standards must be maintained, and the numbers of students enrolled must be regulated. Numerous studies show that, although the entire nation benefits economically from the graduate and professional training offered by the nation's leading universities, the most immediate beneficiaries are residents of the state in which the university is located. The presence within this state of leading universities insures Michigan residents exceptional education opportunities at all levels and in a wide spectrum of academic fields. A less tangible but highly significant benefit relates to the role of the University in raising the level of public aspirations. Michigan has long prided itself on its level of achievement in such diverse fields as industrial development, cultural development, civic improvement, and education. High aspirations and achievement in the universities will inevitably encourage these same qualities in all walks of life. The cost of the University's national and international role to the State of Michigan has been marginal because of the large amounts of Federal funds and private gifts and grants that have supported these activities. In time, this pattern will continue for the top rank of universities. The combination of state, Federal, and private funds attracted by a top-rank university provides a critical mass of intellectual talent, yielding a range and an excellence of research and teaching such as none of these sources alone could provide. The Acquisition And Systemization Of Knowledge A true university is characterized by its constant attention to the production, dissemination, systemization, and preservation of knowledge. This concern with knowledge goes on in all areas and at all levels. It ranges from studies of the virus to the motions of galaxies and from the most immediate practical applications to highly abstract theories. In its concern with knowledge, the University follows certain general principles. Some of these are summarized in the faculty committee report cited below: The University, in its commitment to knowledge, must be:
As a community of scholars, the University holds that knowledge is important in its own right and that the production of knowledge needs no further justification. Equally, from the point of view of society at large, there must be a place where new ideas are being tested and new experiments tried, while prior knowledge is sifted and its meanings explored. If the University did not exist to play this role, it would very likely have to be invented anew. In addition, if education is to be a living thing, it must be based on a lively body of knowledge. The University views its role not as a dispenser of facts to an audience of students, but rather as a force which leads students to ask new questions and search for their own answers. This attitude can be communicated to the students only by a faculty who are themselves asking new questions and trying to discover new answers. This is especially true at the graduate and professional level where the connection between the search for new knowledge and advanced training is very close. The intimate connection between research activity and advanced training is one of the reasons that the University's goal is to be the outstanding state university in terms of national prestige and the formal ranking of its graduate programs. Only by so doing can Michigan retain comparable rankings in its research productivity and the research support that it attracts to the University. Such support affects both research and business oriented industries that the University attracts to the State, and the rate of flow of new and beneficial knowledge and techniques. The benefits to the people of Michigan of the national and international role of the University take several forms. The most tangible are the economic benefits that accrue as the University's research and educational activities continue to enhance the State's industrial and commercial position in the nation. These benefits to the State are very substantial. The proper role for the University of Michigan is to continue to serve this function, and indeed, to enhance this role vis-a-vis the State. The Service Functions Historically, the American university has long been concerned with the problems of the society it serves and has acted as a positive force in the attempted solution of those problems. This has been true from the concern with better medical treatment and improved industrial technology in the very early days of the University, down to the present deep concerns with overpopulation, urban blight, and environmental pollution. Here, too, the faculty of the University subscribes to certain general principles. The faculty report cited lists some of those principles: In its efforts to serve society, the University will:
As a multipurpose state institution, the University of Michigan has an important obligation to provide programs of public service for the citizens of Michigan. In many specialized fields it is one of a limited number of universities in the nation qualified to offer certain public services. In order to make best use of the University's specialized resources, the programs of public service should emphasize those activities that can best be done by this particular institution within the state system. Among these activities which draw upon the specialized resources of the University are continuing education programs in specialized and professional fields, and consultation and research services to government, industry, and community groups. For example, many practicing physicians and lawyers in the state participate in continuing educational programs of the University of Michigan. So do literally hundreds of practicing engineers, businessmen, public administrators, teachers, and other professionals of diverse specialties. Our ability to sustain and improve life in this turbulent, changing society requires that newly discovered knowledge and improved technologies must be evaluated and used at the earliest opportunity. The University of Michigan proposes to sustain and expand these continuing educational programs, with particular emphasis on those related to its programs of advanced, graduate-professional studies. In addition, the University of Michigan proposes to continue fostering the response of scholars to the requests of government agencies, corporations, and social agencies of every description. These activities raise the level of public aspirations, promote human welfare, and afford the State of Michigan high esteem as well as significant economic rewards. Conclusion In their wisdom, the people of Michigan in each successive generation have gathered to themselves persons of every sex, race, nationality, and religious faith to prepare adults, young and old, for leadership in the central tasks of society. Through teaching, research, and service, members of the scholarly community discover and communicate the knowledge and skills which will nurture the lives and well-being of this and future generations. To these ends, the role of the University of Michigan is to continue to function as a large complex university of high quality, offering a wide and flexible range of degree programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Continuous planning is needed if a proper and practicable balance is to be maintained among the many and varied functions of the University of Michigan. The enormous capacities of the University must be used effectively and economically. At the same time, the University must maintain its capacity to respond quickly and flexibly to new knowledge and to new needs. The University of Michigan stands ready to coordinate its academic planning with that of its sister institutions, emphasizing or de-emphasizing its programs in the light of state-wide needs. It stands ready to serve the citizenry through development of the state system of higher education. April 1968 Revised, February 2000
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MISSON AND VISION STATEMENTS
October 9, 1992 Mission Statement The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.
Vision Statement As we enter the twenty-first century, the University of Michigan intends:
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