I'm thinking of drawing up a mission statement for our program. I hate the term, but I've increasingly felt like even with the new blood in our program we're wandering far afield from what we should be doing. Some of our faculty have not yet come to grips with the idea that we are not a research 1 institution, and we do not necessarily need or want to remake ourselves in that image. We do want to raise our program's profile, and we do want to raise and maintain high expectations for our students. At the same time, our efforts so far to remake our program have yielded more upper division topics courses at the expense of language courses. As a lit person, that seems fine. Except, I was really swayed by the article that was posted recently about the future of Spanish programs. I think it's true that most students (at least my students) are in it for the language, and would benefit from language instruction that is better integrated into the program. I think that's an area where faculty where some of our newer faculty (especially native speakers, believe it or not) do not perceive the need. We're very much into the idea of remaking the program into something that WE want, but haven't thought so much about what students want, expect, or need.
Any thoughts? What would you include in a mission statement?
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I like the idea of a mission statement, because it helps clarify goals. My question is where would you use it? Would it appear in the catalog or on websites?
I think I would begin by relating the mission of the department to that of the university. I would think realistically about student needs, as you seem to be doing, and figure out how best to serve those needs. My understanding of the Cal State system is to help students get jobs, train teachers, etc. It's mission seems to be more practical, less theoretical and research driven. Our department tries to dovetail with the larger goals of a liberal arts school (critical reasoning, etc.) and the increasing need for bilingual speakers. So we mix the pragmatism of learning a second language, which does not exclude literature, with the liberal arts mission, which fits nicely with literary studies. In theory, it seems to work out.
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