OPINION OF NCSU MISSION
NCSU's Mission Statement accurately reflects the character of the institution as a comprehensive research-intensive university in the land-grant tradition. The Mission Statement appropriately describes NCSU's characteristic mix of basic and professional-degree programs in the humanities, the social, natural, and life sciences, and in the technical and applied fields. The Mission Statement effectively ties together the three-fold land-grant mission, describing research and scholarly inquiry as forming the basis for education of undergraduate and graduate students and of the larger public through outreach activities. Finally, the Mission Statement points forward, calling the University to continued evolution and programmatic development while challenging it to enhance its efforts to improve the quality of life for the citizens of North Carolina [2.0.1; 2.0.2].
Several questions on the 1992 NCSU self-study surveys of staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty elicited opinion on NCSU's mission and the understanding of respondents of the role they play in fulfilling that mission.
In general, the surveys showed that all groups believed that they had a good understanding of the mission and of their role. For example, large majorities of all groups agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that NCSU is fulfilling its mission: 71 percent of staff, 87 percent of undergraduate students, 83 percent of graduate students, and 81 percent of faculty.
Most also agreed or strongly agreed that they understood how their own program or activities fit with the University's mission: 83 percent of staff, 77 percent of undergraduate students, 72 percent of graduate students, and 86 percent of the faculty.
The same surveys contained open-ended questions about NCSU and its mission. Most of those polled did not have any comments about NCSU's mission. Of those who did, favorable comments outnumbered critical ones, with the University's land-grant mission the most frequently cited positive attribute.
Of 520 faculty questionnaires completed, three mission-related topics elicited ten or more critical comments:
- Role of humanities and social sciences: Approximately twenty faculty members suggested that the University needed to increase its emphasis on the humanities and social sciences in order to provide a balanced education and ultimately to attain national excellence. A smaller number of faculty and staff expressed the opposite opinion, suggesting that the NCSU was losing sight of its core mission in engineering, agriculture, and applied science.
- Power of the colleges: Fifteen faculty comments decried the power and autonomy of the colleges, which, they said, prevented the development of a coherent, cooperative University mission and vision.
- Lack of vision: Ten faculty comments criticized the lack of institutional vision or a compelling and consensus-based understanding of the University's mission.
Thus, although there is broad understanding and commitment to the University's mission as a comprehensive research-intensive land-grant university, there is room for leadership that affirms disciplinary diversity and overcomes organizational divisiveness within an overall vision of University purpose.
Self-Study Table of Contents