• Student-focused learning, placing the strongest value on learning and teaching; 

• The scholarship of discovery and creativity, recognizing that the most basic function of the university is to seek, apply and disseminate knowledge and insights; 
• Liberal education as the foundation of the undergraduate curriculum, articulating this commitment in a general education program; 
• Graduate education as integral to the university experience, enhancing the learning environment for all community members and providing leadership in the area of scholarship; 
• Nurturing and encouraging personal growth, creating an environment that actively and deliberately supports individuals' effort to realize their potential and achieve their goals.
  
  Community
• Diversity and multiculturalism, embracing multiple voices, perspectives and ideas rather than the dominance of only one idea, person, faction, generation, race, culture or religion; 
• A sense of community, encouraging a shared sense of belonging, the harnessing of energies and commitments to common goals, and the valuing of the contributions of all members to the whole;
• Respect and civility in the treatment of each other, creating an atmosphere of mutual free exchange and expression of thoughts and ideas, civil discourse and conscientious actions; 
• Shared governance, supporting the principles of communication, consultation and participatory decision-making.

Service

• Striving for quality in all that we do, encouraging excellence in all of our activities.

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Goals 
To achieve its mission and realize its values, Central Michigan University is committed to the following actions: 

1. Provide a quality, broad undergraduate education to prepare students for a thoughtful life of service to the community and as a base for future academic and professional work and to ensure that CMU students will be knowledgeable and skilled, liberally educated persons. 
   
2. Offer in-depth undergraduate programs in which students can begin to master an academic field and practice a profession. 
   
3. Offer graduate programs in niche areas of faculty strength that meet regional, state, national and international needs. 
   
4. Encourage the practice of values pertaining to professionalism, character and citizenship, including concern for the welfare of humanity, dedication to public service and awareness of the social issues confronting a diverse global society. 
   
5. Advance and disseminate knowledge by stimulating and supporting research and creative activities by students, faculty and staff. 
   
6. Design and develop innovative and effective learning systems to meet contemporary educational needs. 
   
7. Use modern technologies to enhance teaching, learning, research and administrative functions. 
   
8. Provide an environment that allows for broad-based community involvement and participation in democratic civic life. 
   
9. Provide support services and a physical environment that foster student success. 
   
10. Offer co-curricular activities, including Division I-A athletics, which enhance intellectual, cultural, social, ethical, physical and emotional development.
    
11. Create and nurture an environment that attracts and retains students, faculty and staff who embody and promote cultural, racial and global diversity. 
    
12. Provide educational experiences and programs to enhance mutual trust, respect, understanding and sense of community with people from all backgrounds and cultures and to ensure an international and global perspective. 
    
13. Provide service for the public good.
    
14. Attract and manage resources to enable faculty, staff and students to be successful in meeting these goals.

Further, the institution is committed to:

• Enhancing the learning environment through classroom, laboratory, and office upgrades; 
• Enhancing graduate education; and 
• Enhancing teacher education and working collaboratively to improve traditional and innovative K-12 education. 

Endorsed by the Academic Senate 4/30/02
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The Enduring Philosophy
In its one hundred years as an institution of higher learning, Central Michigan University has supported a liberal arts education as the common base for all degree programs. In the words of a founder, “Education in its best and truest sense is a much larger thing than any or even all of the so-called practical uses that may be made of it. Accordingly...the school shall stand squarely and strongly for the larger idea, that education is a rightful heritage of the human soul....Breadth and liberality of scope will always prove the better investment in the long run.”
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