Core Component 1C

For more than a century Augustana has maintained stable, universally apprehended sense of its mission focused ever more sharply in the last two decades on our core work of educating a talented student body of traditional college age. Strong evidence from three major surveys undertaken in the past two years (SWOT analyses as part of strategic planning; marketing surveys conducted by Carnegie Communications, and surveys contributing to this self study) confirms that the college's constituencies understand and endorse our mission.

According to the Director of Institutional Research, for example, the SWOT data support two significant findings First, our constituents identify, and identify with, our mission. Second, there is a high degree of agreement across constituencies. Faculty and staff, students and alumni, all identify with this same set of core values and institutional attributes. All of the groups identified the college with the liberal arts, with close and challenging relationships between students and faculty, and with a concern for the whole person (as reflected in spiritual and ethical values and the role of co-curricular and extracurricular programs).

Responses to survey questions and our review of departmental documents also demonstrate that the general campus population is aware of the spirit of the Augustana mission statement. Members of the Augustana community can identify the purpose of major initiatives and changes on campus and relate that to the larger picture of the mission.