Position students to excel in an ever-changing world through curricular initiatives that both leverage our distinctive strengths and values as an institution and develop students’ capacity to understand and communicate their growth and potential for positive impact throughout their lives.
Prioritize educational access and foster inclusive excellence by systematically ensuring that our curricula and support systems empower our students to thrive.
WashU has a history of excellence in undergraduate education. The breadth of our curriculum allows for significant exploration, and the depth of mastery our students can achieve is truly remarkable.
The university’s commitment to a premier undergraduate experience is unwavering. Our tradition of success positions us to be that much bolder with our aspirations as we seek to make the undergraduate years even more distinct.
The world is changing at an ever-faster rate, and our student body continues to change, too. These two factors must inform our approach to undergraduate education and structure how we deliver our programming. To best position our undergraduates for long-term success requires equipping our students with fluency in several key domains, including civic engagement and engaging with difference. Grounding in these skills will be tailored to students’ academic programs to provide for a manner and mode of engagement authentic to their studies. A changing world requires continual growth, especially the awareness to understand and translate that growth. To train our students in this skill, we will establish key milestones and high-impact experiences (including capstones, research, and study abroad) such that students can articulate and apply their own intellectual growth.
A culture of continuous improvement in teaching is integral to the success of our students. We will incentivize and recognize excellence in instruction through competitions, awards, and acknowledgment in the promotion process.
WashU is making strides in educational access to empower talented students from all backgrounds to thrive. We will work to ensure that our curricula hold appropriate starting places and avenues to success across courses of study. We will provide tailored support systems so that our students, including first generation and limited income, have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. Further, we will create robust feedback loops to identify disparities in outcomes and to inform interventions.
To achieve this vision for undergraduate education requires intentional coordination with our work in the student experience. As we enact the above aspirations, we will integrate initiatives in career development, healthy excellence, leadership, and student engagement. With these advances, we will ensure that, amidst change, we remain constant in our commitment to excellence in undergraduate education.