Institutional Values

• The University of Georgia recognizes its responsibilities to a broad range of diverse constituencies: To its present and future students, undergraduate and graduate; to its faculty and staff; to its alumni, donors, and friends; to the citizens of Georgia; to its governing board, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents; to the General Assembly and the Executive of the state; to the community and the citizens of Athens and Clarke and neighboring counties; to the farmers, small-business owners, civic leaders and elected officials throughout the state who are the focus of so much of its public service and outreach efforts; to the corporate sector throughout Georgia which relies on its research and development activities; and to the poor, minority, and underrepresented citizens of the state for whom higher education is the primary opportunity for advancement. The University embraces the complex and manifold expectations its various constituencies present, and seeks to serve them all with distinction.
• The University recognizes, nevertheless, that it must select some programs on which to focus special resources in order to achieve the national, and international, distinction it must achieve to serve Georgia best. All of the University of Georgia's programs, however - academic, research, service, and student support - are expected to be of such high quality as to be regionally distinguished.
• UGA expects to continue to increase its role in economic development for Georgia. Participation and leadership in economic development for the state of Georgia is the primary way in which the University will refine and carry out its traditional role as a land-grant institution of higher learning in the 21st century.
• UGA serves the state best by being an international University, with affordable opportunities for international experience for all students, and with outstanding language and cultural programs to support a wide range of international activity by students, faculty and staff. University policies, procedures and practices must be continually reviewed and, where necessary, revised to assure that international activity is encouraged and supported.
• UGA must expand its sources of support: State support will continue, of course, to be paramount, but more private, corporate and federal support must be sought and secured, and more imaginative, entrepreneurial, fiscal and programmatic partnerships with public and private entities must be developed.
• UGA recognizes the necessity of creating/fostering as positive a workplace environment as possible, for faculty and staff: The "knowledge worker" environment of the 21st century makes it more important than ever for UGA to be able to compete globally to hire and retain a superior faculty and staff.
• UGA recognizes and prizes its vital relationship to Athens/Clarke County, and recognizes the vital importance of cooperative planning, development and growth.
• UGA is, above all, dedicated to providing an educational experience of the highest quality to each of its students, both inside and out of the classroom, integrating to the extent possible various dimensions of that experience in a challenging, fair, individualized, "student-centered" environment.

Updated 12/09/2000