School Eckerd College - Saint Petersburg - FL

The mission of Eckerd College is to provide excellent, innovative undergraduate liberal arts education and lifelong learning programs in the unique Florida environment, within the context of a covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The College expects its students to acquire a broad knowledge of past and present human cultures and of the rich and varied perspectives of different academic areas. The College expects its students to engage intellectually with the enduring questions of purpose, value, and meaning and to reflect seriously on the spiritual dimension of human existence. The College expects its students to acquire the intellectual depth appropriate to a baccalaureate education in a single discipline or subject, including mastery of a particular body of knowledge and an understanding of its principal modes of inquiry. The College expects its students to deepen their awareness and comprehension of two central issues: sustaining the natural environment, and fostering cross-cultural understanding and respect for diversity in a global society. The College expects its students to strengthen their sense of personal and social responsibility for ethical reasoning and action, constructive community engagement, and thoughtful leadership through meaningful participation in campus life and the wider community. The College expects its students to develop and nurture the intellectual and practical skills that result from a liberal education: critical inquiry and analysis, effective written and oral communication, quantitative and information literacy, and team work and creative problem solving.

The College offers lifelong learning programs consistent with the purposes, content, and values of a liberal arts education. Pursuant to these aims Eckerd College supports a faculty dedicated to fostering student learning through effective teaching and mentoring, productive scholarship and artistic endeavor, and broad participation in the campus community. Eckerd also supports a staff dedicated to creating an environment that fosters the College's learning community and supports the students in their intellectual, artistic, and moral development.

The governing board, administration, faculty, and staff share a commitment to sustaining and improving a college community that fosters a strong values-oriented liberal arts education for its students.