Mission Statement

Tiger

The MU College of Education's mission is to "Educate Missouri, Our Nation, Our World," by engaging in the enterprises of teaching, research, service, and economic development.  MU's College of Education prepares lifelong educators and professionals to provide the necessary foundation for truly educated citizens and to unravel today's complex societal problems.

The University of Missouri-Columbia provides learning opportunities at the graduate and undergraduate areas of the humanities, arts, and sciences while also providing the basis for service to the people of the state, nation and world. The MU academic community’s values are four-fold; they call for respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence, which build a platform for world-class education.

MU serves a diverse group of undergraduate and professional students from all parts of the state, nation and abroad. Its graduate students are recruited nationally and internationally. MU Tiger Alumni are impacting cities across our world. Through its outreach programs, MU meets educational and informational needs of Missouri and beyond.

The College of Education’s mission to “Educate Missouri, Our Nation, Our World” through teaching, research and service enables the College to contribute knowledge and solutions that address today’s complex societal problems. The College aspires to achieve national and international prominence for its research and educational contributions.

The University of Missouri-Columbia and the College of Education engage in the enterprise of teaching and research. The College of Education, building on the MU values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence, affirms the following five overarching dispositions:

  • Pursuit of the highest levels of knowledge
  • The belief that all students can learn
  • The willingness to reflect on one’s practice and beliefs
  • The pursuit of research-based practices
  • The willingness to engage in professional collaboration within and across all groups of individuals involved in the field of education.

The College is organized into the following six academic units:

  • The Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum
  • The Department of Special Education
  • The Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (houses all Educational Leadership, Policy Studies and Higher Education programs)
  • The Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology (including programs in School Guidance Counseling and School Psychology)
  • The School of Information Science and Learning Technologies.
  • The Teacher Development Program

The four departments and one school engage in graduate studies, Center research, special projects, and international outreach activities.

The Teacher Development Program supports the development of effective educators who are reflective and inquiring professionals. The program organizes programs around the problems of practice, creates opportunities for inquiry and reflection, utilizes developmental approaches to performance assessment and focuses on what educators need to value, know and be able to do.

The College of Education, under the leadership of professor and dean Carolyn D. Herrington, aims to guide students, faculty and staff to better impact our collective communities through effective research, service and teaching.