• Mission
• Role and Scope
• Vision
• Values

Mission

The mission of the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith (UA Fort Smith) is to raise the higher education achievement level of the residents of the Western Arkansas service area to meet or exceed the national averages, at a cost that is affordable.

UA Fort Smith is a unique regional university. The institution will raise the education achievement level by providing high quality baccalaureate, associate, and certificate programs and a wide range of credit and noncredit educational services for its six-county Western Arkansas service area. Education and training services designed to meet the workforce education and retraining needs of business and industry throughout the region are a direct support responsibility of UA Fort Smith.

Student learning and growth are the priorities for all members of the institution. The University will strengthen the educational, cultural, and economic development of the communities in Western Arkansas.

Role and Scope

Founded in 1928, UA Fort Smith has grown in stature, role, and scope over the years to a singularly distinctive, unique hybrid institution. Organized and focused on teaching and learning, UA Fort Smith offers multifaceted academic and technical educational opportunities. The University provides these learning opportunities at times and places convenient to students and clients. These programs include single courses of instruction, technical certificates of proficiency, two-year associate's degree programs, and baccalaureate degrees designed to meet a demonstrated demand of the region and industries served by the University. Additional upper division and graduate programs of study leading to select baccalaureate and master's degrees are offered on campus by other universities through the UA Fort Smith University Center.

In addition to certificate and degree programs, UA Fort Smith provides a wide range of customized, on-site education and training services — both pre- and post-employment — designed to meet the workforce education and retraining needs of business and service organizations throughout Western Arkansas and the state. UA Fort Smith provides a variety of public service activities for the people and organizations within its service area. Included are non-credit courses, seminars, workshops, lectures, travel, telecourses, and teleconferences organized by the University's Center for Business and Professional Development. UA Fort Smith makes campus facilities and resources available to community organizations and enriches the quality of life of the community through sponsored cultural activities and events.

Vision

The heart and soul of UA Fort Smith's aim is to be a leader in the learning enterprise, locally, statewide, and nationally.

• We believe in service over self-interest.
• We seek to provide, facilitate, and broker first-quality learning which will build a productive, self-sufficient citizenry and healthy communities.
• We strive to create in each life we touch the perpetual self-learning capacity to live up to one's full potential, to know how to enjoy life and to contribute to making our community and world a better place to live.

Values

UA Fort Smith holds a set of core values based on the belief that we can and should be the best of learning organizations, by centering our focus and efforts on the learner and learning, and by practicing and modeling integrity and ethical behavior, responsibility for results, service to our fellow citizens and the communities we serve, and cooperation and collaboration with others in the betterment of the world in which we live.