Core Component 1A

Augustana's mission documents and articulates our values and vision. All of our constituencies contribute to the fulfillment of our mission. Our mission statement—a clear and dynamic expression of the purpose of the institution—was considered and formally adopted in 1997.

Augustana College has a long history of stability and integrity in its operations, and is building on a solid foundation of academic and financial strength. The college has fulfilled its mission while honoring its duties and commitments to students, alumni, employees, community members and other constituents. The strategic plan commits the college to ambitious new initiatives while continuing to affirm its historic mission.

That mission is clear and has been constant over the course of decades. For more than a century the college has articulated a series of consistent commitments:

• to the development of the whole person: mind, spirit and body;
• to offer an education which consciously incorporates all aspects of the college experience, curricular equally with co- and extra-curricular; and
• to ready the student both “for all occupations and professions” and for “participation in the life of his generation” (1955 College Catalog 11).

The mission statement is widely available to the institution's various constituencies and outside observers, appearing in print form in our primary mission documents and others, such as the Staff Handbook and all varsity sports' media guides, and on the college's website. The mission is viewed as a touchstone for the institution, a guide for all of our activities.