MISSION STATEMENT: A PHILOSOPHY OF PURPOSE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

The central purpose of UC Davis, as a comprehensive research university, is the generation, advancement, dissemination and application of knowledge. In this, UC Davis is committed to developing and sustaining leading programs in:

• the arts, humanities, biological and physical sciences, and social sciences—disciplines at the core of all universities;
• agricultural and environmental disciplines and engineering;
• professional studies in education, law, management, medicine, and veterinary medicine.

In these programs, the campus integrates three purposes: teaching students as a partnership between faculty mentors and young scholars, advancing knowledge and pioneering studies through creative research and scholarship, and applying that knowledge to address the needs of the region, state, nation, and globe. UC Davis is committed to the tradition of the land-grant university, the basis of its founding. This tradition—built on the premise that the broad purpose of a university is service to people and society—guides today the campus' special commitments and emphases.

UC Davis has a history of focused attention on undergraduate education. The central elements of a liberal education—the arts and languages, history and philosophy, and the sciences—offer the opportunity for a broad general education combined with specialization in a scholarly discipline. Coupled with this are manifold opportunities for personal development through programs for academic enrichment, including undergraduate research, work-learn experiences, and extracurricular student life.

Dedicated to scholarship, the furtherance of knowledge, and the education of graduate students who will advance the next generations of research, UC Davis offers a diverse array of post-baccalaureate programs. Drawing upon the wide range of specialized academic fields, stimulating cross-disciplinary approaches, and using its distinctive graduate groups, a structure that permits students to pursue lines of inquiry that cross traditional disciplinary lines, UC Davis continues to follow and redefine the mandate of a major research university.

The campus has a commitment to advancing teaching and scholarly work in the arts, humanities, and the social sciences, studies that also enrich the life of each person and society as a whole. Infusing the pursuit of careers in education, law, management, and medicine with these insights and values is also emphasized.

Because of its prominence in the biological, physical, and engineering sciences—and building on its distinguished programs in the agricultural and environmental sciences—UC Davis plays a leadership role in modern biology, focusing its strength on basic research and related studies in agriculture, human and animal health, and the environment. Consonant with this emphasis is UC Davis' enhancement of its strength in the engineering and physical sciences, reflecting the importance of these disciplines for the economic vitality of California and the Nation.

The life of UC Davis extends beyond teaching and study to service to the region, state, nation, and the world. This is given in many forms: cooperative extension to agriculture and education, medical services to central California and beyond through the multifaceted UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, diverse educational programs of University Extension that share knowledge with the region, voluntary contributions of faculty, staff, and students, and athletic and cultural programs for the campus and community at large. UC Davis is surrounded by vibrant, local communities and its proximity to Sacramento, the state capital, gives this outreach urgency and opportunity. Collaborative studies and cooperation between UC Davis and state agencies and the Legislature are both a special responsibility and a unique opportunity.

UC Davis is characterized by a distinguished faculty, a dedicated and high-achieving staff, and students of great potential and accomplishment. As we move forward, we recognize that our continued excellence is dependent upon our ability to diversify our university community, consonant with the citizenry of California.

UC Davis remains committed to its human values: caring and personal relationships, collaborative and thoughtful work, all within a human-scale environment. These special qualities are sustained by intellectual strength within a collegial community whose members share a deep desire for teaching and learning, for an abiding commitment to discovering and applying new knowledge.

September 2000

| Last updated: May 30, 2008 2:58 PM

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