Criterion One: Mission and Integrity Core Component 1a: The organization’s mission documents are clear and articulate publicly the organization’s commitments.

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	The mission of the University of Missouri System, as a land-grant university and Missouri’s only public research and doctoral-level institution, is to: “discover, disseminate, apply, and preserve knowledge. It thereby stimulates learning by its students, and lifelong learning by Missouri citizens, and advances the health and well-being and the intellectual, cultural, and economic interests of the people of Missouri, the nation, and the world.”
The UM System’s Mission Statement makes clear the educational goal of UMKC to “discover, disseminate, apply and preserve” knowledge that is required for the survival of a democratic society. By underscoring the importance of lifelong learning, the UM System statement also recognizes that UMKC has multiple constituencies that include not only our students, but also the citizens of our state and region, and the world. In accordance with the foundational elements of the UM System Mission Statement, UMKC has developed its own vision statement. This document bears witness to our present and future commitment to the mission of the UM System. It states: UMKC will become a model urban research university characterized by signature graduate and professional programs, a dynamic undergraduate population, a highly diverse faculty, staff and student body, and active engagement with its city and region.
University of Missouri = University of Missouri System (Missouri University = MU, the UM System’s university in Columbia.) University of Missouri System = University of Missouri– Kansas City; University of Missouri-St. Louis; University of Missouri–Columbia (Missouri University); Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla) Board of Curators = governing body of the UM System. Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education = oversees the Missouri Department of Higher Education. www.dhe.mo.gov/cbheindex.shtml
Our administrative leaders and University representatives regularly incorporate UMKC’s mission and vision themes in their public speeches, e-mail announcements, official correspondence and public relations statements. Fall 2008 marked the 75th anniversary of the university. During that year’s Convocation, we used the event to spotlight our mission. Following the Provost’s state-of-the- university address, which highlighted the key elements of our mission, the Convocation program featured three monologues delivered by actors from our theater department that dramatically personified our longstanding mission areas of diversity, active engagement and research. Emerging from the University of Missouri’s Mission Statement, the UM System’s Board of Curators has provided UMKC with specific mission priorities. On July 24, 1997, the board directed UMKC “to lead in life and health sciences; to deepen and expand strength in the visual and performing arts; to develop a professional workforce and collaborate in urban issues and education; and to create a vibrant learning and campus life experience.” These specific mission priorities in life and health sciences, visual and performing arts, and the development of a professional workforce with a special concern for urban issues and education are all directed to the UM System’s pledge to work toward advancing the health and the intellectual, cultural, and economic advancement of the residents of Missouri, the nation and the world. This UMKC mission statement is featured prominently on the UMKC Web site and the online University catalogue. It is printed on bookmarks distributed during registration to all students and with every purchase at the UMKC Bookstore. It is available at our University’s libraries and the University Student Center, and at other locations on campus and in the Kansas City community. These specific mission areas are also promoted on banners that hang in conference rooms and hallways around our two campuses, Volker and Hospital Hill. In keeping with the UM System Mission Statement and the specific UMKC mission and vision statements, each academic unit, division and department enunciates their missions on unit and department Web sites and in the UMKC catalogue. The HLC Resource Room contains the specific mission statements from our academic units, divisions and departments. All Resources in the Electronic Resource Room, A-Z sorted
Our mission documents are more than carefully crafted statements. They are public pledges. The work we do to fulfill our mission is a measure of our integrity. As a yardstick for measuring our successes, we have developed a list of Core Values that are made boldly visible on both campuses, from our meeting rooms to the walls of the University parking structures. The adopted Core Values were developed through a process that invited administrators, faculty, staff and students to participate in a yearlong series of workshops and meetings. Out of that collaborative process, UMKC developed its first officially adopted list of core values. (See Criterion 2 for a fuller description of those events.) These Core Values represent broad objectives designed to point the way to the fulfillment of our vision and mission.