Mission and Values
The following is the college’s statement on Mission and Values, as ratified by the College Advisory Council in 2002.
Our Mission
The mission of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is to enhance the quality of life for the people of Michigan and the world by advancing knowledge for the management of communities and agricultural, natural resource and food systems to meet diverse human needs in a sustainable manner.
To accomplish this mission we must pursue:
- Learning that imbues current and future stakeholders with intellectual curiosity and offers relevant knowledge and skills,
- Discovery that advances knowledge and enhances productivity and sustainability, and
- Engagement with society that achieves social, economic and environmental equity.
Our Values
Underlying this mission are the things that we as a community value:
- Scholarship. We strive to create premiere learning environments within undergraduate, graduate and lifelong education programs that actively engage learners and enable them to build their knowledge and capacity to solve problems confronting society. We value an academic environment that advances discovery, critical examination, maintenance and communication of knowledge and values. We foster a supportive environment that encourages contributions of citizens, students, faculty and staff members, and administrators.
- Service to others. We are here to serve the people of Michigan, the nation and the world. To that end, we aim to provide relevant and accessible programs in higher education, extension and lifelong learning.
- Partnership. We cultivate partnerships with communities, government, industry and non-profit organizations to advance the educational, cultural, environmental, social and economic interests of our constituencies. We value multidisciplinary collaborative approaches for learning, discovery and engagement.
- Balance. We value equally the contributions of teaching, research and extension in pursuit of learning, discovery and engagement. We endorse a balanced research program that effectively addresses problem-solving needs and contributes to the growth of disciplinary knowledge.
- Excellence. We strive to create an academic community that promotes excellence and values academic freedom, diversity and pluralism. We recognize the importance and necessity of these tenets for cultivating new and expanded perspectives and for ensuring the long-term intellectual and institutional integrity of the College and MSU.
- Accountability. We value the opinions and expertise of stakeholders and our peers as a means of improving our teaching, research and extension programs, monitoring our progress and identifying College priorities. We shall work to reward performance of academic units and faculty and staff members that is consistent with our mission and programmatic priorities.
- Land-grant mission. We value the tradition of the land-grant mission, upon which Michigan State University was founded. Our unique role in higher education and our distinctive contribution to Michigan remain rooted in the land-grant tradition as we strive to fulfill its potential.