Goals

California University of Pennsylvania is a multipurpose, regional university firmly committed to offering students of widely varied ages, backgrounds, interests and needs, a broad range of educational opportunities and experiences. Thus, the university endeavors to provide a contemporary array of degree programs - associate, baccalaureate and masters - which will enable the student to develop as an intelligent, caring individual who will be able to function as a contributing, productive member of society.

The university recognizes the important relationship that exists between those disciplines, which enhance one’s ability to think critically, reason analytically, communicate effectively, maintain historical perspective and promote good citizenship, and those disciplines, which provide the specialized knowledge and the critical intellectual skills to perform effectively in a wide variety of settings. To this end, it is the purpose of the university to prepare men and women to meet the challenges of the world of work in education, business, industry, government, the professions, the human services, and of further education in graduate and professional schools.

As a regional institution, the university strives to present a diversity of programs and services for those residing in it's service area. A principal goal of the University Advancement, especially in its Mon Valley Renaissance program, is to provide different kinds of assistance related to economic development.

The university also offers to local residents access to a variety of social and cultural activities.

Objectives

The faculty and students of the university are participating members of an educational institution charged with preservation, discovery, and dissemination of knowledge in the arts, sciences, technologies, vocations and professions, and with the creative application of that knowledge in their lives both as individuals and as members of society.

The objectives of the university are:

1. to provide a liberal education, which aims at developing analytical thinking and individual initiative and responsibility;
2. to provide flexible, innovative programs and support services that are responsive to a broad range of student and regional needs;
3. to provide a professional faculty and an effective administration;
4. to create and maintain a learning environment in which the rights of all are respected;
5. to provide a wide range of learning opportunities for students interested in associate, baccalaureate, graduate, and non-degree programs;
6. to promote effective communication among faculty, students, administration, and the general public;
7. to provide a diversity of intellectual, cultural, social and recreational activities and experiences for the university and surrounding communities;
8. to encourage thoughtful and responsible faculty and student participation in local, state, national and international affairs;
9. to require high standards of teaching and scholarship, and to encourage participation in professional activities;
10. to foster academic research, which contributes to human knowledge and the vitality of the institution; and
11. to maintain an on-going system of self-evaluation whereby the goals of the institution serve as the criteria for determining the institution’s effectiveness.