In the 2002/2003 academic school year, with input from the entire university community, the Graduate Studies Committee spent several months crafting a mission statement and five graduate tenets to serve as guideposts for achieving the mission. The word tenet is from the Latin root, tenere, which means to hold. A tenet is a principle, belief, or ideal held by a person or an organization. Individuals or organizations hold on to certain principles or ideals because they believe them to represent what is good or true about something. Tenets are like the world of Plato’s ideals; their complete realization may be always beyond our grasp, but by using them as guideposts we can strive to be the best that we can be. Relative to graduate education at Central, the tenets serve as operational statements against which we can measure our success.
GRADUATE TENETS
Community of Scholars
To facilitate active and ongoing participation, communication, and interaction of faculty and students around a shared commitment to the advancement of knowledge through innovation and research.
Scholarly Inquiry
To foster a spirit of intellectual curiosity, reflective thinking, and the application of rigor in the evolving formulation of knowledge.
Intellectual and Personal Integrity
To live according to personal and professional values and standards and to be cognizant of the consequences that decisions and actions have on others and the environment.
Excellence
To strive for ongoing quality improvement through careful planning, innovation, and program evaluation.
Leadership
To take initiative for shaping the direction of one’s discipline by modeling high standards of professional behavior, and inspiring and motivating others to do the same.
One of the primary goals of the Graduate Studies Committee is to explore ways in which we can breathe life into the graduate tenets. We will be discussing specific initiatives that can be implemented to help us to keep our eye on the tenets and to ensure that they guide our daily practice. We invite the GSA and all graduate students to join with us in this important venture.
The Graduate School is made up of many relatively autonomous academic departments with a host of different majors and diverse agendas. The five graduate tenets will serve as the unifying link that connects all faculty and students with a common sense of purpose. By vigilantly following the tenets we can be sure that we will continue to build a strong and vibrant graduate community.