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Our Mission and Priorities

Arts & Sciences Mission Statement

At the center of Indiana University Northwest is the Division of Arts and Sciences.  Providing a broad education in the arts and sciences, the Division prepares students through study in major disciplines for careers of their choice and for lives as educated, critical, and inquiring citizens in a world of rapid change.

At the core of our many programs, some unique to the region, are the analytical, cognitive, and expressive skills needed to assimilate and advance knowledge.  An arts and sciences education focuses on an understanding of the human condition—past and present—and of the world in which we live. It emphasizes a humanistic and esthetic appreciation of cultural life as well as valuing of science and its methodology in which intellect, logical processes, ethical perspectives, and problem solving are key. The strong research and creative activities of our faculty encourage students toward a life of learning and reflection.

Intrinsic to a liberal education is preparing graduates to appreciate, contribute to, and thrive in a diverse, culturally rich, technologic and scientifically advanced society with a compelling history, and a promising future, and a capacity for transformation. 
Through our teaching, research, creative arts, and professional and community service, we engage in the vitality of Northwest Indiana. An informed, educated population is not only democracy's strongest, best hope, it is also society's wisest investment.  That, more than anything else, is the endeavor of the faculty and staff of the Division of Arts and Sciences.

Arts & Sciences Priorities

In alignments with the IU Northwest Shared Vision and Arts and Sciences Mission,

• Invest in and pursue new programs:  interdisciplinary (e.g. Freshman Seminar), collaborative, and post-graduate.
• Invest in the poetics of space - campus aesthetics and climate that promote student learning and the Division's teaching, research, creativity, and service goals.  Major development projects would include environmental and social justice, development/diversity/funding.
• Focus on regional emphasis - capitalize on identification with the region
  • Masters of Environmental Science
  • Theatre and Gallery Northwest
  • GIS center of NW Indiana
  • Frank Lloyd Wright House