| Coordinate Mission,
Values and Vision
In 1995 the Board of Trustees of the
College of Saint Benedict and the Board of Regents of Saint John's University adopted a
single statement of mission and values and vision for the future which guides the colleges
in planning. |
| Coordinate Mission and
Values |
Vision for the Future |
| The mission of the College of
Saint Benedict and Saint John's University is to provide the very best residential liberal
arts education in the Catholic university tradition. They foster integrated learning,
exceptional leadership for change and wisdom for a lifetime. |
The College of Saint Benedict and
Saint John's University will be widely recognized among national liberal arts colleges for
their success in enhancing students' capacities to integrate learning and manifest
exceptional leadership within a lifelong search for wisdom. |
| On the undergraduate level, the
College of Saint Benedict enrolls women and Saint John's University enrolls men. Together
the two colleges make these mission commitments to their students: |
Extending their long experience of
mutual respect and interdependence and in order to fulfill the mission commitments which
they have made to their students, the two colleges will marshal ideas and resources with
sufficient creativity and consistency to demonstrate excellence in these areas: |
| A unified liberal arts
curriculum which focuses on questions important to the human condition, demands clear
thinking and communicating and calls forth new knowledge for the betterment of humankind. |
Gender and Cultural Diversity:
The colleges will promote new understanding of the roles of gender and cultural
differences within human civilization and cultivate skills for using that knowledge in
one's own life. |
| An integrative environment for
learning which stresses intellectual challenge, open inquiry, collaborative
scholarship and artistic creativity. |
Information Technology: The
colleges will use new information technology to improve students' learning and scholarship
and strengthen their capacity for enhanced knowledge and productive work after graduation. |
| An emphasis on the personal
growth of women and men which incorporates new knowledge about the significance of
gender into opportunities for leadership and service on each campus and across both
campuses. |
Transformative Leadership:
The colleges will promote new understanding of the development of leadership and cultivate
the reciprocal skills of building community and pursuing inner growth. |
| An experience of Benedictine
values which fosters attentive listening to the voice of God, awareness of the meaning
of one's existence and the formation of community built on respect for individual persons. |
Inclusive and Respectful
Dialogue: The colleges will promote inclusive and respectful dialogue about important
spiritual and ethical matters and cultivate the capacity to listen to others and reflect
freshly about one's own values. |
| Entry into a heritage of
leadership and service which, through a variety of special programs, connects each
college to off-campus communities and seeks to promote peace, justice and the common good. |
Service to Church and Society:
The colleges will reinvigorate participation in programs addressing the unmet needs of
off-campus communities and cultivate skills for reflecting critically and compassionately
on that experience. |
