Mission & Purposes
The Mission of the Office of the Dean of Students
The Office of the Dean of Students serves a central role in student learning and development at Vanderbilt, advancing the University’s mission of teaching, research, and service by fostering academic and social networks through which students develop as intentional learners and global citizens. The Office of the Dean of Students creates opportunities to involve students, faculty and staff in diverse learning communities and provides a critical support structure for enriching the overall student experience. We achieve these ends through strategic alignment, both internally and in concert with other university departments.
The Purposes of the Office of the Dean of Students
Our core purposes are to:
- Create a transformative college experience that dissolves the traditional barriers between in and out of classroom learning.
- Enhance academic performance and intellectual excellence by building effective learning communities that emphasize the active engagement of students, faculty and staff.
- Serve as a structural support system that fosters well being, security, safety, accessibility, capability, and encouragement, as well as provide the student with resources for belonging, recognition, contribution, and respect.
- Promote healthy lives and balanced minds to ensure the well being of the Vanderbilt community and establish the foundation for individual learning and personal development.
- Forge collaborative partnerships to achieve a seamless learning environment that links, aligns, and integrates programmatic and academic endeavors.
- Expand opportunities for experiential learning, civic engagement, cultural enrichment, leadership development, and service learning.
- Conduct ongoing assessments upon which to generate policies and programs that meet the changing needs and interests of students and to increase our capacity for doing so.
- Provide intellectual challenge and increase the overall sense of community by generating dialog around issues of tolerance, justice, moral responsibility, and human dignity.
- Espouse, embody and impart the values of the Community Creed within our residential community.