Mission and Purposes of Northeastern State University

Northeastern State University is a comprehensive regional university governed by the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges within a state system coordinated by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Its mission is to provide undergraduate and graduate education leading to bachelor's degrees, master's degrees in selected areas, and a doctoral degree in Optometry. In fulfilling this mission the University commits itself to excellence in instruction, to appropriate basic and applied research, to educational outreach and service, and to cultural activities that enhance the quality of life in the region and state. The University's contempory mission reflects the high aspirations and commitment to higher education made in 1846 by the founders of the original Cherokee seminaries.

To implement Northeastern State University's mission of excellence in teaching, research and service, the following purposes provide direction for planning, administration and programming:

1. provide flexible, comprehensive, and relevant undergraduate and graduate programs;

2. promote and support comprehensive academic programs that stimulate students to seek knowledge, think analytically, and communicate their thoughts effectively;

3. maintain and support a university community commited to providing educational programs that enhance the quality and vitality of student experiences through effective teaching, research, continuting education, and public service;

4. provide multifaceted opportunities for personal and social development through effective student support services;

5. provide cultural and extracurricular activities that foster informed judgment, aesthetic sensibility and a sensitivity for ethnic and cultural diversity and a sense of historical continuity;

6. offer programs which prepare students for leadership and decision making roles in a technologically and globally oriented society, and which enable students to develop awareness and appreciation for local, state, national and international perspectives.