What does the mission mean to you?
Columbia is studying itself as we prepare for reaccreditation through the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (HLC/NCA). A peer-review team will visit the college in the spring of 2009. This process happens every 10 years.
The college is looking closely at its mission and function; so, let's focus on the mission first:
Columbia is an undergraduate and graduate college whose principal commitment is to provide a comprehensive educational opportunity in the arts, communications, and public information within a context of enlightened liberal education. Columbia's intent is to educate students who will communicate creatively and shape the public's perceptions of issues and events and who will author the culture of their times. Columbia is an urban institution whose students reflect the economic, racial, cultural, and educational diversity of contemporary America. Columbia conducts education in close relationship to a vital urban reality and serves important civic purpose by active engagement in the life and culture of the city of Chicago.
Columbia's purpose is:
● to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of the arts and media and to encourage awareness of their aesthetic relationship and the opportunity of professional choice among them;
● to extend educational opportunity by admitting unreservedly (at the undergraduate level) a student population with creative ability in, or inclination to, the subjects of Columbia's interest;
● to provide a college climate that offers students an opportunity to try themselves out, to explore, and to discover what they can and want to do;
● to give educational emphasis to the work of a subject by providing a practical setting, professional facilities, and the example and guidance of an inventive faculty who work professionally at the subjects they teach;
● to teach students to do expertly the work they like, to master the crafts of their intended occupations, and to discover alternative opportunities to employ their talents in settings other than customary marketplaces;
● to help students to find out who they are and to discover their own voices, respect their own individuality, and improve their self-esteem and self-confidence;
● to offer specialized graduate programs which combine a strong conceptual emphasis with practical professional education, preparing students with mature interests to be both competent artists and successful professionals.
SO...what does the mission mean to you???
We want to know!
[Your responses will be anonymous, but we'd love to know your role at the college.]
[Please indicate whether you are faculty, student, staff, or administration.]
I am a faculty member of Columbia College Chicago.
The line “author the culture of our times” is the line that most stands out to me. We typically think of authors to be distinct from mere writers: anyone can be a writer, but only a few are recognized “authors.” Columbia’s mission challenges that distinction. Especially combined with Columbia’s commitment to generous admissions, then, this mission is quite radical. That line invokes all the challenges and the potential inherent in teaching at Columbia: I’m helping to prepare students to actively shape the world we live in. I’m new to Columbia, and not only did the mission draw me to this position, but I feel a real responsibility to live up to it.
Posted at January 24, 2008 12:17 PMI work as a staff member at the college. One of the biggest joys about working at Columbia College Chicago is the sincere realization that my efforts are making a difference in the lives of our students. The close-knit relationships we have with our students and the city of Chicago is remarkable. I am proud to be a part of a diverse community supported by continual encouragement from the college to be an individual and an artist. Having this direction (ultimately grounded by the college's mission) undoubtedly provides me with satisfaction as an employee of the college. Arriving to work each day under the realization that I am surrounded by people (staff, students, faculty, and administration) who truly love and are involved in the arts creates an atmosphere that seemingly cannot be paralleled in other workplaces.
Posted at January 24, 2008 12:33 PMI am a staff member who was also attracted to the unique mission of Columbia. I get energized by seeing the intellectual & creative diversity within the college and the mission that is very much embracing. However, I feel that we are not harvesting this natural resources well enough to make Columbia truly unique and outstanding institution. I hope to see more collaboration, dialogues around the college's "quite radical mission" and being honest (without blames) about how well do we measure up to the aspirations expressed through Columbia's mission.
Posted at February 5, 2008 9:38 AMWhat I love about a mission statement is that, it’s not only who you plan to be, it’s who you are within and all you will be! That’s the beauty of Columbia’s mission statement; I’ve been with Columbia 8 years, 4 as a student & 4 as a staff member. There is never a day that I don’t want to come to work because of what I do, maybe because I’m lazy that day! To work in an environment that embraces individuality, is simply beautiful. I’ve got to say fostering to that idea is not an easy task; however, Columbia understands the importance of such action. We also understand the true essences of diversity-not simply the color of our skin, but more about the way we think as individuals and how we create change together! As I feel we are pretty darn close to achieving our mission and I think we do so from an honest place, there is always more to explore and ways in which we can create change to assure that we are consistently adhering to it.
Posted at March 6, 2008 11:24 AMI might suggest that we revise our mission statement to read:
...principal commitment is to provide a comprehensive education[al opportunity] in the arts..... [part to be removed]
Isn't our mission to provide an education rather than an opportunity? It seems that a student's opportunity is applying to the college and being accepted, but after that the college's responsibility is to deliver an education.
Posted at March 11, 2008 4:00 PMI quote below the two points from the mission that I feel we are not fulfilling, because we do not have a placement service. I am a staff member and a parent of a soon-to-graduate student, and I am not pleased. I value the Portfolio Center, but it only makes sense for certain occupations. We need to have placement services, contacts with the professions where our students will work, and more centralized resources for job placement. We cannot be competitive if we don't have these services.
"● to teach students to do expertly the work they like, to master the crafts of their intended occupations, and to discover alternative opportunities to employ their talents in settings other than customary marketplaces;
● to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of the arts and media and to encourage awareness of their aesthetic relationship and the opportunity of professional choice among them;"
