Chapter 4 - Criterion One: Mission and Integrity

The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.

The mission and purposes of Valley City State University are influenced by two distinct groups: the North Dakota University System (mission and mandates as directed by the State Board of Higher Education) and the Valley City State University community (the educational philosophy of its faculty, staff, administration, and students).



Organized as a system in 1990, the North Dakota University System (NDUS) is made up of 11 public colleges and universities governed by the State Board of Higher Education. The NDUS is composed of two research universities, four regional universities, and five campuses that offer associate and trade/technical degrees. Each institution is unique in its mission to serve the people of North Dakota.

The eight-member State Board of Higher Education is the policy-setting body for the North Dakota University System. The board includes seven citizen members appointed by the governor, who serve four-year terms, and one student appointed by the governor for a one-year term. A non-voting faculty advisor and a non-voting staff representative, selected annually by their state-wide Councils, ensure that the issues and concerns of each group have a voice.

The North Dakota University System vision is

Its mission is:

The State Board of Higher Education reviews and approves the mission statement of each campus, to ensure that each campus expresses the general purposes of the system. The Board also mandates an institutional mission for each campus. In February 1990, Valley City State University was given the institutional mandate "for superior small-college preparation of teachers and of small-business personnel for its region" and a statewide mission for leadership in the effective use of instructional technology and service to rural areas (SBHE Minutes, February 1990). These mandates and the NDUS mission itself provided a cornerstone for the development of VCSU's mission and vision statements.

In 2002, the SBHE dissolved the shared administration between VCSU and Mayville State University, allowing the institutions to begin the process of differentiating themselves and developing new initiatives to respond to changes in technologies, learning environments, the economic climate, and the business world. VCSU's response to this change was to take time over the next year to reflect and plan, through a series of convocations and a focused review by the Institutional Improvement Committee (IIC). New mission and vision statements resulting from this period of reflection were drafted by the IIC and approved by the Faculty Association on February 20, 2003. The current mission was approved by the State Board of Higher Education at its February 19, 2004, meeting and printed in the 2004-2006 catalog.

The University Purposes, also revised by IIC during this period of reflection and planning in 2003, express the general curricular purposes in terms useful for strategic planning:

These purposes inform the specific curricular and resource planning of all academic units of the institution, providing a foundation for goal setting and strategic planning in each unit (discussed in 1c, below).

In addition, the Core Values provide central guidelines for the decision-making process:

The statement of Core Values was reviewed along with the University Mission, Vision, and Purposes in 2003, and remains unchanged. Together, these four documents provide the defining commitments of Valley City State University.