Running head: MISSION STATEMENT ANALYSIS 1

Courses on the Coast or Mindfulness in the Mountains: A Mission Statement Analysis

Dan Dunne

Northern Illinois University

MISSION STATEMENT ANALYSIS 2

Creating a mission statement that embodies absolutely everything a company,

organization, or institution stands for is a nearly impossible task. Mission statements are,

however, essential visioning tools for administrators because they symbolize what their

organization will come to value, what they are fostering with their collective efforts, and for

whom these efforts are created. When analyzing the mission statements of institutions that focus

on the highest level of education available, extra attention must be paid to what these statements

are subtly or unconsciously saying about the type of scholarship they promote. The purpose of

this paper is to compare two mission statements from higher education institutions in order to

assess what these statements say about the schools they represent.

Mission Statement Analysis: Daytona State College

As a medium sized, four-year public school located on the eastern coast of Florida,

Daytona State College’s mission statement is brief and gets straight to the nature of the type

education it provides. The opening phrase stating, “a comprehensive public college” (Our

Mission) shows that the school’s first priority is to deliver a wide array of educational offerings

with their programing. By promoting themselves as public from the beginning of this statement

they are also highlighting the fact that they are inclusive, thereby making it known that they are

open and accessible to all types of learners. The following section reaffirms this assertion,

stating the school “provides access to a range of flexible programs from community enrichment

to the baccalaureate degree” (Our Mission). Here Daytona State College once again promotes

access and describes the range of educational credentialing that they offer. By choosing to

include community enrichment as an endorsed credential, the school is consciously

communicating that they are not only for degree seekers, which is less common to see in a higher

education mission statement. The inclusion of the word ‘flexible’ is also salient due to what this
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communicates to the students and faculty of this institution. This shows that Daytona State

College understands the nature of the new types of non-traditional students who they seek to

recruit. This understanding around needing flexibly for other commitments outside of school is

vital in these new types of learners’ pursuit of post-secondary goals.

The remainder of the statement is written in a surface level way, with generalized

statements that are almost mandatory for any higher education institution to include. Statements

like “…emphasizing student success, embracing excellence and diversity, as well as fostering

innovation…” (daytonastate.edu) all amount to administrative jargon without specific examples

to back them up. This section gives a sense of a cursory amount of attention being paid to these

important topics at this institution. The closing section about “fostering innovation to enhance

teaching and learning” (daytonastate.edu) alludes to the school’s use of technology and any

available optimization systems that will support their educational effectiveness and bottom line.

Overall, the authentic components of Daytona State College’s message resides in the first half of

their mission statement.

Mission Statement Analysis: Naropa University

In contrast to Daytona State College’s concise and user-friendly mission statement, there

exists the lengthy and confusing mission statement of a very small, four-year private school

located in Colorado. Naropa University’s long-winded and ethereal mission statement makes it

clear just how many worlds away these intuitions are from one another. The school begins with

“Inspired by the rich intellectual and experiential traditions of East and West, Naropa University

is North America's leading institution of contemplative education” (Mission & Values) as the

opening to their mission statement. This introduction serves to immediately put off the vast

majority of prospective students who are not sophisticated world travelers or understand the
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meaning of a contemplative education. Following with “Naropa recognizes the inherent

goodness and wisdom of each human being” (Mission & Values), the school is highlighting the

idealist mindset of those who work and study here. Naropa University speaks to the holistic

nature of the offerings provided in and outside of the classroom by continuing with “It educates

the whole person” (Mission & Values).

There is a second use of the word contemplative in the first half of the mission statement

which points to the fact that students do loads of reflection during their time at this university.

From here, it is noticeable that the vocabulary continues to avoid the standard college imagery of

buildings and books, and instead conjures up the image of Tibetan monks meditating in snow-

capped mountains. In the end of this second section, the statement goes on to make generalized,

but grandiose, assertions in connecting how the wisdom and intellect of students at Naropa

University will go on to serve them in solving the world’s most complex problems.

The third section highlights the spiritual and interpersonal values that the school promotes

in a pleasing and uncontroversial way. The statement of, “It embraces the richness of human

diversity” (Mission & Values), speaks to their worldly nature while staying far from addressing

more current, local, and pressing injustices happening in the country where the campus is

actually located. This is followed with, “fostering a more just and equitable society and an

expanded awareness of our common humanity” (Mission & Values) which again demonstrates

the idealism they espouse, all while ensuring that they donate liberally to their local NPR station.

The final section uses a strange choice of words by saying their education provides an

“interplay of discipline and delight” (Mission & Values) and supposedly, this interplay will be

what will help these students change the world. This closing word choice paired with the small,
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exclusive, and somewhat pretentious nature of this private institution speaks again to the elitism

that is embodied in the Naropa University mission statement.

Conclusion

There is clearly power in the words being chosen in these mission statements. There is no

doubt that after reading these statements an affect will take place by either attracting or

detracting potential students. When creating and assessing these statements it is important to

read with an analytical eye towards what is and is not being said about the values of these

institutions. These two examples were selected because they represent both ends of the higher

education spectrum: public vs. private, open vs. elite, and realist vs. idealist. Each school has its

own value and place within the higher education landscape. For Daytona State College, their

place in higher education is to support the ever growing numbers of non-traditional students who

need understanding support systems in order to help them get over the post-secondary hurdle.

For Naropa University, they find their place in higher education supporting the privileged elite to

stop and reflect in an environment that will comfortably provide everything they need in order to

get one step closer to self-actualization. Either way, it can be seen by all attentive readers that

these mission statements allow a quick view into what is really being prioritized within the walls

of a complex academic institution.

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References

Daytona State College Website. (2010) Our Mission: Mission Statement. Retrieved from

https://www.daytonastate.edu/mission.html

Naropa University Website. (2019) Mission & Values: Naropa University Mission Statement.

Retrieved from https://www.naropa.edu/about-naropa/mission-and-values/

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Appendix A
Daytona State College Mission Statement

Daytona State College, a comprehensive public college, provides access to a range of flexible

programs from community enrichment to the baccalaureate degree, emphasizing student success,

embracing excellence and diversity, as well as fostering innovation to enhance teaching and

learning.
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Appendix B

Naropa University Mission Statement

Inspired by the rich intellectual and experiential traditions of East and West, Naropa University

is North America's leading institution of contemplative education.

Naropa recognizes the inherent goodness and wisdom of each human being. It educates the

whole person, cultivating academic excellence and contemplative insight in order to infuse

knowledge with wisdom. The university nurtures in its students a lifelong joy in learning, a

critical intellect, the sense of purpose that accompanies compassionate service to the world, and

the openness and equanimity that arise from authentic insight and self-understanding. Ultimately,

Naropa students explore the inner resources needed to engage courageously with a complex and

challenging world, to help transform that world through skill and compassion, and to attain

deeper levels of happiness and meaning in their lives.

Drawing on the vital insights of the world's wisdom traditions, the university is simultaneously

Buddhist-inspired, ecumenical, and nonsectarian. Naropa values ethnic and cultural differences

for their essential role in education. It embraces the richness of human diversity with the aim of

fostering a more just and equitable society and an expanded awareness of our common humanity.

A Naropa education—reflecting the interplay of discipline and delight—prepares its graduates

both to meet the world as it is and to change it for the better.