Degrees of Excellence
The University Mission and Vision support the institutional priorities of academic and scholarly excellence, student development and success, and institutional effectiveness through dynamic assessment and measurement.
Guided by these priorities, NSU established an infrastructure to sustain excellence in the 21st century through a culture of assessment and continuous improvement.
Our Vision
NSU will support our students’ success by adapting to a constantly changing, globally competitive environment, by educating today’s learners to be tomorrow’s leaders, and by being responsive to the needs of our stakeholders and the region’s workforce.
Our Mission
Building on our Cherokee Nation heritage, Northeastern State University is committed to student success and a sustainable future for our diverse communities.
The Degrees of Excellence institutional learning outcomes articulate high expectations
for students' success, and provide an inclusive framework for a distinctive educational
experience that emphasizes lifelong learning, intellectual growth, citizenship, and
social responsibility. These outcomes build upon the Lumina Foundation's Degree Qualifications
Profile and are informed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities
LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes. They reflect NSU's heritage, mission, vision, and
values.
The Degrees of Excellence outcomes allow all NSU stakeholders to more clearly understand the connections between the NSU educational experience and cultivated skill sets needed after graduation.
They also provide a foundation for meaningful assessment at the institutional level. These outcomes provide evidence of student learning as well as data which can be used to improve institutional communication, professional practices, and educational quality.
The Degrees of Excellence Institutional learning outcomes are:
- Intellectual skills emphasizing analytic inquiry, information literacy, engaging diverse perspectives, quantitative fluency, and communication fluency.
- Integrative knowledge emphasizing the ability to produce, independently or collaboratively, an investigative, creative, or practical work that draws on specific theories, evidence, tools, and methods from diverse perspectives.
- Specialized knowledge in the major emphasizing student competency in the program outcomes of the major field(s) of study.
- Capstone Experience in the Baccalaureate Degree emphasizing the integration of the major with baccalaureate degree expectations reflecting the intersection of academic and post-baccalaureate settings.
- Citizenship emphasizing leadership and engagement, experiential learning, cultural foundations, and personal and career development.