Mission and Vision
Our mission informs and infuses all we do at Saint Mary's. Here, you will be greeted with respect, taught with humanity, and supported. You will find people who value critical thinking, problem-solving, and character-building as much as you do. At Saint Mary's, we are steadfast in our beliefs and committed to each other, our students, and our community.
Vision
Our vision is to be a nationally prominent and regionally dominant university that transforms individuals and communities through an education that emphasizes excellence, aligns with workforce needs, provides access and flexibility to support student needs, and develops ethically-guided graduates leading in their communities and succeeding in their careers.
Mission
Enriched by the Lasallian Catholic heritage, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota awakens, nurtures, and empowers learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.
Identity
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s mission and vision reflect its Lasallian Catholic identity, building upon the past and providing direction for the future.
In 1912, Saint Mary’s College was founded by the Most Reverend Patrick R. Heffron, the second bishop of Winona (now the Diocese of Winona-Rochester). In 1933, the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (also known as the De La Salle Christian Brothers), an international Catholic teaching order, purchased Saint Mary’s College from the Diocese. The De La Salle Christian Brothers and their spirituality continues to animate the university today.
Guided by Pope John Paul II’s Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota possesses the necessary essential characteristics1 of a Catholic higher education institution. Our Catholic mission and identity are experienced through tangible signs and symbols on campus (e.g., crucifixes, sacred art) and the lived expression – celebration of the Mass, Campus Ministry programming, and accompaniment.
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, as do all Catholic universities, guarantees academic freedom to pursue the truth. This includes an intellectual openness to the divine as well as the integration of faith and reason. Unique to Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is the intentionality with which we approach character education, virtue formation and related programming, which permeates both our curricular and co-curricular initiatives and fosters our authentic community. Our culture is rooted in upholding the human dignity of each person and developing ethical leaders who advance the common good.
At Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, our distinctive Lasallian charism is expressed by way of an education that provides human and Christian formation in the spirit of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and the Patron Saint of Teachers. A Lasallian education is student-centric, dedicated to serving the poor, and promoting the common good in Jesus Christ. We believe education has the capability to transform lives, evangelize, and be the conduit for one’s vocation/calling in life.
At Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, we strive to be the premier Lasallian Catholic university, empowering students to live lives of ethical service and leadership.
Values
The university values faith, authentic community, education, service to the poor, and dignity of each person.
Motto
Virtus et Scientia (Virtue and Knowledge)
Books
Please contact officeofmission@smumn.edu to order one of these texts.
Office Of Mission
Committed to preserving, enhancing, and deepening the community’s understanding of the university’s mission.
The Office for Mission was created to design, coordinate, oversee, and implement ways for all members of the university community to come to a deeper knowledge and ownership of the university’s mission to awaken, nurture, and empower learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.
1 Pope John Paul II, Ex Corde Ecclesiae: Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, n. 13. Promulgated in 1990 and implemented in the United States in 2000, Ex Corde Ecclesiae remains in effect as universal and particular law.
2 Ibid., n. 12 and 29.