Wichita State University is committed to providing comprehensive educational opportunities in an urban setting. Through teaching, scholarship and public service the university seeks to equip both students and the larger community with the educational and cultural tools they need to thrive in a complex world, and to achieve both individual responsibility in their own lives and effective citizenship in the local, national and global community.

High quality teaching and learning are fundamental goals in all undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs. Building on a strong tradition in the arts and sciences, the university offers programs in business, education, engineering, fine arts, and health professions, as well as in the liberal arts and sciences. Degree programs range from the associate to the doctoral level and encompass seventy-five fields of study; non-degree programs are designed to meet the specialized educational and training needs of individuals and organizations in south central Kansas.

Scholarship, including research, creative activity, and artistic performance, is designed to advance the university's goals of providing high quality instruction, making original contributions to knowledge and human understanding, and serving as an agent of community service. This activity is a basic expectation of all faculty members at Wichita State University.

Public and community service activities seek to foster the cultural, economic and social development of a diverse metropolitan community and of the State of Kansas. The university's service constituency includes artistic and cultural agencies, business and industry, and community, educational, governmental, health, and labor organizations.

Wichita State University pursues its mission utilizing the human diversity of Wichita, the state's largest metropolitan community, and its many cultural, economic and social resources. The university faculty and professional staff are committed to the highest ideals of teaching, scholarship and public service, as the university strives to be a comprehensive, metropolitan university of national stature.