Senate Document Number 5300S

Date of Senate Approval 4/13/00

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

The University of North Carolina at Asheville offers a superior liberal arts education for well-prepared students who are committed to learning and personal growth. Its education is liberating, promoting the free and rigorous pursuit of truth, respect for differing points of view and heritage, and an understanding that values play a role in thought and action. Through this education the university aims to develop students of broad perspective who think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and participate actively in their communities. UNCA is North Carolina's only designated public liberal arts university.

Small by choice, UNCA brings together faculty, students, and staff of diverse cultural backgrounds to interact closely in a supportive community. The university makes excellence in teaching the highest priority for its faculty. It fosters scholarship and creative activities by faculty and students alike.

UNCA provides undergraduate programs in the arts, the humanities, the natural and social sciences, and in selected pre-professional programs that are solidly grounded in the liberal arts. The university seeks to connect the traditional liberal arts fields through interdisciplinary studies and to integrate these areas of inquiry with programs that prepare students for rewarding careers. To enhance and extend the undergraduate programs, UNCA offers an interdisciplinary Master of Liberal Arts.

As a public university, UNCA serves the region and state in ways that complement its educational mission. It encourages students, faculty, and staff to interact with and serve the community, and it shares cultural and educational resources with citizens at all stages of life and learning. The university houses the Asheville Graduate Center, the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, and other programs which provide opportunities to citizens for continued learning and public service.

The ultimate aim of the university is to provide students the best possible opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge, and an understanding necessary to pursue their goals, to find meaning in their lives, and to take their places as contributing citizens of a changing society.