Mission, Vision & Values

In the tradition of our United Methodist heritage, these are Baker University’s values:

Excellence: Providing high-quality education through academic rigor, critical thinking, and continuous improvement.

Integrity: Upholding the highest ethical standards, promoting honesty, transparency, accountability, and a culture of trust.

Respect: Valuing the dignity and worth of all individuals, creating a safe and welcoming environment, and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

Community: Fostering connection, belonging, collaboration, and shared responsibility among students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Service: Encouraging a commitment to social responsibility and making a positive difference in local, national, and global communities.

Growth: Cultivating intellectual curiosity, lifelong learning, and personal and professional development.

Innovation: Promoting new ideas and encouraging adaptability, flexibility, entrepreneurial thinking, and creativity.

Spirituality: Respecting religious diversity and fostering individual spiritual development in an inclusive manner.

Mission

Baker University School of Education is committed to learning and to developing confident and competent educational leaders.

Vision
The School of Education provides quality programs grounded in a tradition of academic excellence and responds to the educational needs of the future.

In addition to supporting the values of the university as a whole, the School of Education believes a confident and competent educational leader

• Advocates for all students and their learning successes;
• Has a strong knowledge base and sense of beliefs and values supported by educational research and best practices;
• Has the commitment and skills to transfer knowledge, beliefs and values into policy and practice;
• Demonstrates interpersonal practices that advance the welfare and dignity of all persons; and
• Maintains an unremitting drive for improvement.

The School of Professional and Graduate Studies develops confident, competent leaders, contributing to their communities through lifelong learning, professional success, and service to others.

The School of Professional and Graduate Studies believes that education is not defined by age but rather desire and motivation.

• We provide an environment where students utilize resources and are encouraged to think critically.
• We provide a quality learning environment that builds on adult students’ academic, professional, and life experiences to foster lifelong learning.

We believe that academic achievement contributes to professional success.

• We challenge students by providing a rigorous academic environment designed to illustrate real-world applications.
• We provide curriculum that incorporates student and faculty experiences.

Vision

Through scholarship, leadership, innovation, and collaboration graduates of the School of Nursing will transform health care delivery within a culture of diversity across the continuum of care.

The College of Arts and Sciences prepares students for a lifetime of continued intellectual, professional, and personal development. Graduates will be responsible global citizens who think critically, communicate effectively, act ethically, serve generously, and live fully.

Student Learning, Development & Success

We are passionate about student learning, development and success. We will provide a challenging, yet supportive, learning-centered educational experience that reflects a concern for academic excellence, sensitivity to changing and emerging student, stakeholder, and market requirements, and attention to the factors that influence student learning, development, fulfillment and success. We will build a living learning environment that promotes student engagement and ignites in our students a passion for lifelong learning. To do so, will require focus on organizational learning and agility.

Community

Our commitment to community represents the essence of our campus culture. We will adopt policies, procedures, and practices that promote attention to individual needs and aspirations, as well as those that strengthen our University and the broader community that we serve. We value diverse perspectives and promote actions that demonstrate mutual respect among all members of our local community and the global community of which we are a part. We will actively engage students, faculty and staff in integrated learning communities that foster synergistic connections among and within academic disciplines, task groups and social clusters. We will seek ways to partner with our extended community to promote mutual enrichment, professional progress and the greater good.

Character

We understand that character development is a lifelong pursuit. Therefore, we encourage continued character development for students, faculty and staff. We will seek and develop faculty and staff who will model ethical behavior, principled decision making and personal integrity in ways that will inspire these characteristics in our students. We will integrate ethics and analytical thinking throughout our curriculum and adopt an ethos of character development in our approach to athletics, cocurricular activities, student discipline and employee relations.

Civic & Social Responsibility

We are committed to the traditional United Methodist concerns for social justice and service to others, and we will seek faculty, staff and students that share this concern, regardless of their faith tradition. We will encourage a sense of social responsibility among members of our community by integrating academics, student development, cocurricular activities, University governance and community-service programs in ways that promote understanding of public policy and encourage activism, service to others, leadership development and a lifelong commitment to civic and social engagement.

Health & Wellness

Our commitment to lifelong health and wellness extends beyond the classroom to include the entire Baker community of students, faculty, and staff. We will provide opportunities and programming that help to nurture the individual while also encouraging awareness of and concern for the health and wellness of others. We take a multifaceted approach and believe that every member of our campus community is served best by our promotion of the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that can aide our ability to meet personal and professional life goals. We strive to build the holistic understanding of health and wellness that can contribute to individual as well as communal satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness.