St. John’s Mission and Values
St. John’s is Catholic, Vincentian, Metropolitan, and Global
As a university,
we commit ourselves to academic excellence and the pursuit of wisdom, which flows from free inquiry, religious values, and human experience. We strive to preserve and enhance an atmosphere in which scholarly research, imaginative methodology, global awareness, and an enthusiastic quest for truth serve as the basis of a vital teaching-learning process and the development of lifelong learning. Our core curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences aims to enrich lives as well as professions and serves to unify the undergraduate experience. Graduate and professional schools express our commitment to research, rigorous standards, and innovative application of knowledge. We aim not only to be excellent professionals with an ability to analyze and articulate clearly what is, but also to develop the ethical and aesthetic values to imagine and help realize what might be.
St. John’s is a Catholic university,
founded in 1870 in response to an invitation of the first Bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, to provide the youth of the city with an intellectual and moral education. We embrace the Judeo-Christian ideals of respect for the rights and dignity of every person and each individual’s responsibility for the world in which we live. We commit ourselves to create a climate patterned on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ as embodied in the traditions and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Our community, which comprises members of many faiths, strives for an openness that is “wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, or worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8). Thus, the University is a place where the Church reflects upon itself and the world as it engages in dialogue with other religious traditions.
St. John’s is a Vincentian university,
inspired by St. Vincent de Paul’s compassion and zeal for service. We strive to provide excellent education for all people, especially those lacking economic, physical, or social advantages. Community service programs combine with reflective learning to enlarge the classroom experience. Wherever possible, we devote our intellectual and physical resources to search out the causes of poverty and social injustice and to encourage solutions that are adaptable, effective, and concrete. In the Vincentian tradition, we seek to foster a world view and to further efforts toward global harmony and development by creating an atmosphere in which all may imbibe and embody the spirit of compassionate concern for others so characteristic of Vincent.
St. John’s is a metropolitan and global university.
As a metropolitan university, we benefit from New York City’s cultural diversity, its intellectual and artistic resources, and its unique professional educational opportunities. With this richness comes responsibility. We encourage the metropolitan community to use our resources to serve its needs. As a global university, we are one of our nation’s most diverse institutions of higher education, enriched by a mixture of cultures, which complements an internationalized curriculum. Through collaboration with other institutions around the world, study abroad opportunities, and online courses and degrees, our outreach spans the globe. In educating students we pledge to foster those qualities needed for our alumni to become effective leaders and responsible citizens in a vibrant city and dynamic world.
Mission Statement of St. John’s University, New York
Approved by the Board of Trustees, December 1991
Modified and re-approved March 1999, March 2008, October 2015
Our Values
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