Vision:  Toward a More Peaceful and Humane World

Long Island University envisions a learning community dedicated to empowering and transforming the lives of its students to effect a more peaceful and humane world that respects differences and cherishes cultural diversity; improving health and the overall quality of life; advancing social justice and protecting human rights; reducing poverty; celebrating creativity and artistic expression; rewarding innovation and entrepreneurship; honoring education and public service; and managing natural resources in an environmentally-responsible, sustainable fashion. It aspires to move toward this vision through an institutional culture that is open to all, cherishing and nurturing the expansion of knowledge; intellectual inquiry and critical thought; artistic and creative expression; teaching and learning; and community service as its core values. This vision sustains the University and provides the foundation upon which its mission rests.

The University Today

One of the nation's ten largest independent, private institutions of higher learning, Long Island University is a highly-diverse, non-sectarian, coeducational, multi-campus, regional university, offering a comprehensive range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs, and doctoral study in several fields, as well as credit and non-credit certificate programs. Chartered as a single academic institution, led by a single president and governing board, and guided by a single, integrated academic structure, the University maintains an urban residential campus in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Campus), a suburban residential campus in Brookville (C.W. Post Campus) and a small town residential campus in Southampton (Southampton College), as well as regional campuses serving commuter students in the metropolitan New York/Long Island region in Brentwood (Brentwood Campus), Orangeburg (Rockland Graduate Campus) and Purchase (Westchester Graduate Campus). It also supports such specialized programs as the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on the Brooklyn Campus, a University School of Continuing Studies dedicated to offering lifelong learning opportunities, the Friends World Program of global education for social change and its academic centers around the world, and the SEAmester Program with ships operating in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Board of Trustees, by providing policy leadership, critical insights, essential resources and independent assessment, oversees and supports the entire educational enterprise and is responsible for holding the University accountable to its mission in the public interest.

Embracing many students whose life circumstances, economic means or previous academic opportunities might otherwise make private, higher education an impossible dream, the University provides an excellent academic, artistic, and cultural learning environment, complemented by opportunities for experiential education and lifelong learning. It offers its students access to the American dream of personal success and to the timeless and eternal goals of a liberal education.

Toward that end, the University places its highest priority on inspiring and teaching students to realize their full potential as whole human beings. It seeks to prepare and empower its students to develop their intellectual capacities; engage in critical thought and scientific inquiry, especially with respect to the political and social aspects of their communities and physical environments; expand and refine their creative and artistic talents; acquire higher-level professional skills and knowledge, grounded in the liberal arts and sciences; and enjoy the benefits of the liberally-educated, self-reflective and civically-responsible life. Dedicated to the advancement of knowledge as well as its transmission across the generations, the University encourages its faculty to engage in active programs of research and academic service, to involve their students in those activities wherever possible, and to enrich their teaching and mentoring with the fruits of those endeavors. The University is also committed to providing an environment that fosters active campus life, academic and co‑curricular student services, personal enrichment and community service opportunities, cultural and recreational activities, and intercollegiate athletics – all designed to nurture the development and health of the whole human being. The University recognizes its responsibility to the community through numerous public outreach activities, including a public radio network spanning much of Long Island, a major regional center for the performing arts, several museums and galleries, readings and public forums, student performances, and non-credit programs for professional development, lifelong learning and cultural enjoyment.

Long Island University takes special pride in the rich diversity of its unique and distinctive campuses. At the same time, its campuses and additional instructional sites around the globe benefit from the transcending unity and common purpose, shared identity and reputation, intellectual synergy and major resources of a large private institution of higher learning respected for the University’s traditions of excellence and access.

Adopted by the University-wide Middle States Steering Committee on December 11, 2001