Research and Creative Excellence and the CLA Roadmap

The CLA Roadmap promises a relentless focus on research and creative excellence. This focus fits our position as a land grant institution, a liberal arts college, and is critically important in our quest to achieve our vision of becoming a destination college.

The essentials of a land grant public research university are world-class research, outstanding instruction, and service and outreach to the state. But these are not only essential elements of a land grant research institution. They are essential elements of the liberal arts as well. I have been emphasizing repeatedly that whether on campus or off campus, we will be on offense—and not defense—when talking about the College and the liberal arts. We will advocate, not apologize.

The liberal arts at a land-grant research institution must be rooted in a community of world-class scholars who infuse their research and expertise into their teaching and their service and outreach. Research and creative excellence are vital for what they do off campus. They contribute to the understanding and solution of important problems and they advance human knowledge. Research excellence is, then, the foundation for the liberal arts at a land grant institution. The stronger we are in research, the better we serve students and the public.