Statement of Mission
The mission of Montclair State University as a multipurpose public institution is to develop educated persons of inquiring, creative, and disciplined intelligence to be competent in careers that are fulfilling and to be socially responsible contributors to society. This University strives, therefore, to graduate people on the bachelors and masters level who have had sound education in the arts and sciences and relevant specialized training built upon that base.
General Education
The University aims to provide all its baccalaureate graduates with a fine general education. Its graduates must be competent in the basic intellectual disciplines, be aware of human experience in the arts and in society, and understand the development of scientific theories through objective observation of the way nature works. Its aim is education, not merely training. Its graduates must have developed their affective and intellectual faculties through encounters with the great works of literature, philosophy, and history. Its graduates also must understand foreign cultures and languages in order to be educated beyond the provincialisms of time, place, religion, or race to become world citizens.
Professional Education
The University is equally dedicated to preparing students well in professional and career education through programs of high quality and practical relevance to the world of work.
Preparation for Graduate Work
Montclair State University is committed to excellence in undergraduate studies in order to prepare students to succeed in demanding graduate schools.
Graduate Work
Montclair State University is committed to providing a comprehensive range of post-baccalaureate programs of intellectual, cultural, social, and economic usefulness.
Its aim is to provide graduate programs of intrinsic merit and social utility, open to part-time and full-time students and designed to qualify people to meet needs in commerce, industry, education, and public service while improving their understanding of themselves and the world about them.
Innovative Curricula
The University recognizes the need to develop innovative curricula, interdisciplinary concentrations, and educational delivery systems for practical experience through internships, cooperative education, and other meaningful experiences.
Access and Special Opportunities
Montclair State University is devoted to providing access to higher education for part-time students, disadvantaged students, fully employed persons, adults in mid-career, and persons interested in environmental education, bilingual/bicultural education, and adult education courses on a credit or non-credit basis.
The University also provides early opportunities for superior high school students and admission to graduate courses for gifted undergraduates.
Finally, the University aims to serve as a center for research, instruction, and conferences for industry, commerce, and the public.
Basic Skills
Montclair State University is committed to maintaining an academic environment in which students may succeed by providing developmental/remedial opportunities for traditional or non-traditional students who lack the verbal or mathematical literacy required to take full advantage of a university education.
Public Service
In serving a community larger than its immediate campus, the University provides enrichment to the public through its physical resources, the expertise of its faculty, and the vitality of its intellectual, cultural, and athletic life.
Student Development
The University aims to provide an appropriate mix of the curricular and non-curricular to contribute to individual growth and to the development of skills needed for group participation and leadership, healthful living, lifelong recreation, and career planning and employment.
The Montclair State University Community
The University will maintain an atmosphere of trust, cooperation, and full opportunity for development of all segments of the community: students, alumni, staff, faculty, administrators, and trustees.