Mission, Philosophy, & Goals

MISSION
The Department’s mission is to educate future design practitioners, advance research of the built environment, and disseminate knowledge of architectural studies to improve quality of life for people.

PHILOSOPHY
The philosophy of the Department of Architectural Studies embraces the synergy created between architecture and interior design. Having a symbiotic relationship, both fields explore the design process and its final products. Promoting the meaning and value of physical settings and responding to the human condition, the program investigates the interaction between people and their surroundings to create a more beautiful and sustainable world. The program encourages an interdisciplinary, scholarly climate celebrating aesthetic values and the human sciences.

DEPARTMENT GOALS:
MU and Department of Architectural Studies

The program strives to mirror the goals of the University of Missouri as described below. http://www.missouri.edu/~sprac/pages/goals.htm

MU Strategic Goal 1 : Strengthen research, graduate, and professional programs and improve MU's stature among public AAU and Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Extensive institutions.

•  To respond to design professionals' demand for high quality graduate educational opportunities through resident and online instruction.
•  To be a major contributor to the pool of doctoral level faculty in interior design education.
•  To provide high quality design with digital media graduate educational opportunities for professional designers holding a first-professional degree.
•  To achieve national recognition in design based research / creative endeavor and scholarship in niche areas of (1) Environment and Behavior Design and (2) Design with Digital Media in graduate education and faculty research/creative endeavor.

MU Strategic Goal 2: Maintain a strong focus on student learning that continues to develop and achieve a national reputation for exemplary and challenging undergraduate education.

•  To be among the best design programs in the nation with an accredited interior design undergraduate program and with special emphasis on design with digital media and environment/behavior. This means instruction with outstanding instructors, having a supportive learning environments, and cutting edge computer related equipment that makes students marketable.
•  To continue to emphasize recruitment, retention and job placement.
•  To continue offering undergraduate research and creative scholarly opportunities.
•  To continually improve facilities, resources, and professional networks to benefit students.

MU Strategic Goal 3 : Consistent with MU's role as one of the nation's great land-grant universities, emphasize strongly the clinical, service, extension, and outreach responsibilities throughout the campus.

•  To nurture Extension's role in strong service and outreach activities in the area of affordable housing and sustainable environments. http://www.missouri.edu/~arch/programs/extensionFrame.htm

MU Strategic Goal 4 : Develop and manage resources appropriately so that (a) Strategic Goals 1, 2, and 3 can be accomplished; (b) MU is a responsible steward of public resources; (c) academic programs are of the high quality needed to meet state, national, and international needs; and (d) the total cost to students is kept at affordable levels.

•  To advocate the significance of our field for people locally and globally with diverse faculty and international learning experiences.

MU Strategic Goal 5 : Strengthen the University's commitment to institutional values that reaffirm common goals of collegiality, shared decision making, consensus building, integrity, freedom of inquiry, public responsibility, and respect for the dignity and rights of others.

•  To embrace institutional values of the University.

MU Strategic Goal 6 : Use effective internal and external communications to position MU as one of the nation's great land-grant universities.

•  To utilize excellent digital opportunities available at MU for resident instruction and pursue on-line graduate education and Extension outreach to complement resident instruction.