he College of Education has four missions within the framework of the University's broad instruction, research and outreach mission. The first of these missions is to provide programs for the pre-service and advanced education of teachers, counselors, administrators, and related human-services personnel who will provide leadership and services in their respective professional fields. Through instruction, research and outreach efforts, the College facilitates the preparation and the induction of its graduates into educational and human-services professions.

The second mission is to encourage the development of reflective, professional beliefs and practices and the promotion of critical thinking about one's role as an educator or human-services provider. The College faculty and administration believe that teacher education and human service programs should create professionals who (a) have respect for their professional role; (b) understand their strengths, needs, values, and beliefs; (c) reflect on their professional activities and their effects on others; (d) develop personal philosophies which embrace understandings of and appreciations for cultural and ethnic diversity; and (e) build upon empirical and experiential knowledge within their profession.

The third mission is to generate knowledge, participate in scholarly forums for the exchange of ideas, and to explore educational goals and methods for the improvement of schooling. This also is to extend the level of the College's research and professional participation with educators, the public schools, the parents, and the students they serve. This goal is based on the belief that the mission of the College is intimately involved in the practice of schooling and other human resources.

The College's fourth mission is to inform and advise decision-makers in the development and evaluation of educational policy at the state, regional, national, and international levels. Thus, from pre-service education to policy development, the College builds upon its foundation of instruction, research and outreach for the purposes of improving education and other human services.
(College of Education Policy Manual, vol. A, pp.5-6, edited 1995)