Mission Statement

Statement of Mission

Middle Tennessee State University offers exceptional academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels that prepare students to thrive in their chosen profession and prioritize student success. As one of Tennessee’s largest comprehensive universities, MTSU places high value on outstanding teaching, research, creative activity, and public service that support the emerging needs and challenges of our state, nation, and world.

Approved March 19, 2024 by MTSU Board of Trustees

Purpose

To fulfill its mission as a comprehensive, public institution of higher education, the University’s diverse community of students, faculty, and staff

  • educates and challenges students through a broad array of high-quality, affordable bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral programs grounded in a common core of arts and sciences;
  • collaboratively promotes excellence through innovative teaching and learning, research, creative activity, service, and engagement;
  • fosters a student-centered environment conducive to lifelong learning, personal development, and success for all students, including first-generation, Pell-eligible, transfer, veteran, non-traditional, and international students;
  • enhances access through unique programs, distance learning, and advising to meet the needs of a diverse student population;
  • supports student learning through effective teaching and advising, experiential and integrative learning, emerging technologies, research, and co-curricular and extra-curricular activities;
  • attracts and retains exceptional faculty and staff and develops resources to support excellence in instruction, research, creative activity, and public and professional service;
  • develops and sustains academic partnerships, entrepreneurial activities, and public service to support instruction, research, and communities throughout the region;
  • promotes ongoing engagement with its alumni, partners, and friends; and
  • serves as an emerging center for international study, understanding, and exchange.

Middle Tennessee State University educates students to

  • think logically, critically, and creatively;
  • make sound judgments informed by ethical, moral, and aesthetic values;
  • acquire knowledge of a discipline or a group of related disciplines;
  • examine, analyze, and shape the rapidly changing world through scientific knowledge, creative undertakings, and an understanding of culture and history;
  • communicate clearly and precisely and understand the proper role of free expression and civic engagement in our society; and
  • demonstrate the effective and adaptive use of current and evolving technologies.

Vision

To provide the highest quality education and student experience, enabling members of our community to excel in professional, scholarly, and public life.

Community Standards and Values

MTSU is committed to developing and nurturing a community devoted to learning, growth, and service. Each person who joins or affiliates with the community does so freely and accepts and practices the following core values and expectations:

Honesty and Integrity. The notions of personal and academic honesty and integrity are central to the existence of the MTSU community. All members of the community will strive to achieve and maintain the highest standards of academic achievement in the classroom and personal and social responsibility on and off campus.

Respect for Diversity. The MTSU community is composed of individuals of different races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, cultures, and ways of thinking. We respect individual differences and unique perspectives as we acknowledge our commonalities.

Engagement in the Community. All members of the community are encouraged to participate in educationally purposeful activities that support and enhance the MTSU experience. Active involvement and personal investment in academic and student life are hallmarks of an engaged citizen.

Commitment to Nonviolence. MTSU is committed to the principles of non-violence and peaceful conflict resolution. Community members will freely express their ideas and resolve differences using reason and persuasion.

*Values in bold appear in the True Blue Pledge.

 

Middle Tennessee State University
Institutional Mission Profile

Middle Tennessee State University is a selective, comprehensive institution located in the geographic center of the State. The University embraces its role as a destination of choice for Tennessee undergraduates and the top choice for Tennessee transfer students. Its distinctive undergraduate and graduate programs draw students from across the nation and around the world. Innovative degree programs and research and public service centers attract, welcome, and support a diverse, largely full-time student population with significant numbers of Pell-eligible, first-generation, non-traditional, and historically underrepresented students. The University uses advanced research-based practices to help students recognize their academic promise and achieve success, conferring approximately 5,000 degrees annually. Dedicated faculty and staff prepare students for lifelong learning with global perspectives through an understanding of culture and history, scholarship, and creative undertakings to adapt to and shape a rapidly changing world. MTSU’s signature experiential and integrative learning, international, cross-disciplinary, cocurricular programs, and Tennessee’s first public Honors College deliver a value-added education rich in research, service learning, and civic engagement. Academic offerings foster the pursuit of scholarly research, creative endeavors, and professional advancement through programs spanning the arts and humanities, education, business, STEM, the social, behavioral, and health sciences, and media and entertainment. MTSU houses centers of excellence in historic preservation and popular music and notable chairs of excellence. MTSU has earned the Carnegie Doctoral University: High Research Activity and elective Community Engagement classifications.

Approved _______ by MTSU Board of Trustees