Assessment Leadership Institute
Session 2: Mission Impossible? How to write/revise your program’s
mission statement
Chris Marston
October 16, 2014
Workshop Agenda
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Announcements
Overview of session goals and outcomes
Description of effective mission statements
Reflection, dialogue, and discussion
Wrap-up/Homework assignments
Session Goals
• Engage participants in reflection and
discussion of effective mission statements
• Introduce participants to skills and
knowledge to write effective mission
statements
Session Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
• Critique a mission statement
• Identify characteristics of a strong mission
statement
• Develop/revise a mission statement
Assessment Cycle
Develop
mission and
SLOs
Act on results
to improve
learning
Collect,
analyze, and
interpret data
Align
curriculum to
SLOs
Identify
assessment
methods
Review Homework #1
Small Group Discussion
• Discussion questions based on homework (see
#1 on handout)
– Share one way that the interviewees'
interpretations differ from how your team
interprets the mission?
– Share one item that surprised you about the
interviewees' answers?
Mission Statements v. Vision Statements
Mission
• Describes current
program values,
program activities,
learning goals,
stakeholder
Vision
• Describes the future the
program hopes to
create
Mission Impossible?
An effective mission statement is possible
with these 4 components
A mission statement describes:
1. Who the program is (name);
2. What the program’s primary purpose is;
3. What the program does (functions or
activities); and
4. Who the program serves (stakeholders)
Who the program is
• Clearly identify your program
Program’s primary purpose
• What is the main purpose of your
program?
Program’s functions or activities
• What does your program provide to students?
Who the program serves
• Who are your primary stakeholders?
• Who is your mission statement written for?
– Undergrads?
– Graduate students?
Structure of a mission statement
• The mission of (your program name) is to
(your primary purpose) by providing (your
primary functions or activities) to (your
stakeholders)
• Note: the order may vary from the above
structure
Limited Resources Abound
• With our resource limitations, how do we
allocate our resources to meet our
program’s identity goals?
• What do we say “yes” to and “no” to?
Economics Story
• Pre-ALI mission statement
• ALI participation
• Revised mission statement directed the
creation of our assessment plan
Breakout activity #2
(on handout)
Breakout activity with your program:
• Critique the following programs’
mission statements provided using the
checklist on the handout
– Economics (pre-ALI and post-ALI)
– Group share
– Your own program
Are we done yet?
Wrap Up
• Thanks for your participation today
• 1 Minute Evaluation