Youngstown State University Mission Statement

Mission

An Institution of Opportunity: YSU inspires individuals, enhances futures, and enriches lives.

As a student-centered university, Youngstown State University’s mission is to provide innovative lifelong learning opportunities that will inspire individuals, enhance futures and enrich lives. YSU inspires individuals by cultivating a curiosity for life-long learning; enhances the futures of our students by empowering them to discover, disseminate and apply their knowledge; and enriches the region by fostering collaboration and the advancement of civic, scientific, and technological development. YSU’s culture of enrichment flourishes in our diverse, accessible, and quality education.

Vision

Youngstown State University is where students thrive in their educational and career pursuits, where scholarship creates innovative solutions, and where community engagement is a cornerstone of collaboration that collectively contribute to the sustainable prosperity of the region and beyond.

Values

We—the faculty, staff, administrators, and students of Youngstown State University—hold the following values essential to achieving the mission and realizing the vision.

Centrality of Students – We put students first, fostering their holistic and lifelong success.

Excellence and Innovation – We bring academic excellence and innovation to learning and life for all stakeholders.

Integrity and Human Dignity – We root all behaviors, decisions and actions in the achievement of integrity, mutual respect, collegiality, equity and inclusion.

Collaboration and Public Engagement – We embrace collaboration and create innovative partnerships to foster sustainability and enrich our university, our culture, and region.

Statement of Commitment

(1) Youngstown State University declares that it will educate students by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth.

(2) Youngstown State University declares that its duty is to equip students with the opportunity to develop the intellectual skills they need to reach their own, informed conclusions.

(3) Youngstown State University declares its commitment to not requiring, favoring, disfavoring, or prohibiting speech or lawful assembly.

(4) Youngstown State University declares it is committed to create a community dedicated to an ethic of civil and free inquiry, which respects the autonomy of each member, supports individual capacities for growth, and tolerates the differences in opinion that naturally occur in a public higher education community.

(5) Youngstown State University declares that its duty is to treat all faculty, staff, and students as individuals, to hold them to equal standards, and to provide them equality of opportunity, with regard to those individuals' race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression