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University Mission

Blazing a Future For All

UW-Green Bay is for everyone willing to learn.

"Our mission and vision is to be a university that fearlessly meets challenges, solves problems, embraces diversity, cares about our region and provides access to education for all who want it. Through these actions, we honor the innovative spirit of the founders of the University and move ourselves forward."

Mike Alexander's Open Letter

Students seated at GB Welcome pep rally

Mission & Vision

We believe learning never stops and work toward equitable access for all. We rise above the unknown together and are guided by the following statements of mission, vision and values:

  1. UW-Green Bay's Select Mission
  2. The Core Mission
  3. The UW-System Mission
  4. UW-Green Bay's Commitment to Education

I. The Select Mission

The select mission statement which follows describes the general purposes and character of UW-Green Bay. It is the foundation planning document for the University and is a living document.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a multi-campus comprehensive university offering exemplary undergraduate, master’s and select doctoral programs and operating with a commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship and research, and service to the community. The University provides a problem focused educational experience that promotes critical thinking and student success.

The culture and vision of the University reflect a deep commitment to diversity, inclusion, social justice, civic engagement, and educational opportunity at all levels. Our core values embrace community-based partnerships, collaborative faculty scholarship and innovation.

Our commitment to a university that promotes access, career success, cross-discipline collaboration, cultural enrichment, economic development, entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability is demonstrated through a wide array of programs and certifications offered in four colleges: College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; College of Science, Engineering and Technology (including the Richard Resch School of Engineering); College of Health, Education and Social Welfare; and the Austin E. Cofrin School of Business, leading to a range of degrees, including AAS, BA, BAS, BBA, BM, BS, BSN, BSW, MS, MSW, MSN, and Ed.D.

Approval dates: UW System Board of Regents, April 25, 2019; Higher Learning Commission, May 14, 2019

II. The Core Mission

UW-Green Bay shares the following core mission with other comprehensive institutions in the University of Wisconsin System. These are institutions like UW-Green Bay, that offer an associate degree, baccalaureate degree, and selected graduate programs. This core mission statement reflects a unique role and articulates a common mission.

  1. Offer associate and baccalaureate degree level and selected graduate programs within the context of its approved select mission.
  2. Offer an environment that emphasizes teaching excellence and meets the educational and personal needs of students through effective teaching, academic advising, counseling, and through university-sponsored cultural, recreational, and extracurricular programs.
  3. Offer a core of liberal studies that support university degrees in the arts, letters, and sciences, as well as for specialized professional/technical degrees at the associate and baccalaureate level.
  4. Offer a program of pre-professional curricular offerings consistent with the university’s mission.
  5. Expect scholarly activity, including research, scholarship and creative endeavor, that supports its programs at the associate and baccalaureate degree level, its selected graduate programs, and its approved mission statement.
  6. Promote the integration of the extension function, assist University of Wisconsin-Extension in meeting its responsibility for statewide coordination, and encourage faculty and staff participation in outreach activity.
  7. Participate in inter-institutional relationships in order to maximize educational opportunity for the people of the state effectively and efficiently through the sharing of resources.
  8. Serve the needs of women, minority, disadvantaged, disabled, and nontraditional students and seek racial and ethnic diversification of the student body and the professional faculty and staff.
  9. Support activities designed to promote the economic development of the state.

III. The System Mission

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay shares in the mission of the University of Wisconsin System.

The mission of this System is to develop human resources, to discover and disseminate knowledge, to extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses, and to serve and stimulate society by developing in students heightened intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities; scientific, professional, and technological expertise; and a sense of value and purpose. Inherent in this mission are methods of instruction, research, extended education, and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition. Basic to every purpose of the System is the search for truth.

Commitment to Education

All of UW-Green Bay’s Chancellors have signified their commitment to the idea of an educated person by adding their signature to the ceremonial parchment. The first three chancellors — Edward Weidner, David Outcalt and Mark Perkins — signed the document when the mace was dedicated May 19, 2001 at spring commencement. Bruce Shepard, Thomas K. Harden, Gary L. Miller and Michael Alexander added their signatures during their installation ceremonies on Sept. 20, 2002, Oct. 30, 2009, Nov. 14, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2021 respectively.

The Idea of an Educated Person

"The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is dedicated to the idea of an educated person as one who is guided by the love of learning, committed to inquiry, creativity and scholarship through interdisciplinary and disciplinary approaches to defining and solving problems, and who is an active citizen providing service to the community."