Mission, Vision and Values Summary

In November 2025, the University of Michigan-Flint surveyed internal and external stakeholders to gather input on the university’s mission, vision and values. The results summarized below will help guide the development of UM-Flint’s strategic plan.

Print-only Summary of Input Collected on Mission, Vision and Values via the November 2025 survey of internal and external stakeholders PowerPoint

Surveyed Stakeholders

Internal Stakeholders

• Staff: 131 respondents (of 656 survey recipients, 20% response rate)
• Faculty: 115 respondents (of 741 survey recipients, 16% response rate)
• Students: 80 respondents (of 12,368 survey recipients, 1% response rate)
• Alumni: 259 respondents (of 36,332 survey recipients, 1% response rate)

External Stakeholders

• 89 respondents (of 210 survey recipients, 42% response rate)

Mission Feedback

Current Mission Statement:
The University of Michigan-Flint is a comprehensive urban university of diverse learners and scholars committed to advancing our local and global communities. In the University of Michigan tradition, we value excellence in teaching, learning and scholarship; student centeredness; and engaged citizenship. Through personal attention and dedicated faculty and staff, our students become leaders and best in their fields, professions and communities.

• Response options
  • Extremely (4/A), Very (3/B), Moderately (2/C), Slightly (1/D), Not at all (0/F)
• Question 1:  “Fit”
  • Internal:  How well does the current UM-Flint Mission Statement define our purpose?
  • External:  How well does the current UM-Flint Mission Statement define our role in the region?
• Question 2:  “Articulation” All:  How memorable is our Mission Statement?

Question	Mean	Median	Mode
Fit	2.7 (B-)	3 (B)	3 (B)
Articulation	1.8 (C)	2 (C)	2 (C)

Vision Feedback

Current Vision Statement:
Engaging minds, preparing leaders through academic excellence, student centeredness and engaged citizenship.

• Response options
  • Extremely (4/A), Very (3/B), Moderately (2/C), Slightly (1/D), Not at all (0/F)
• Question 1:  “Fit”
  • Internal Question:  How well does the current UM-Flint Vision Statement describe our aspirational future?
  • External Question:  How well does the current UM-Flint Vision Statement describe an aspirational future that has regional significance?
• Question 2:  “Articulation”
  • Question for all:  How memorable is our Vision Statement?

Question	Mean	Median	Mode
Fit	2.5 (B-/C+)	3 (B)	3 (B)
Articulation	2.0 (C)	2 (C)	2 (C)

Values Feedback

• Words found most frequently in suggested values
  • Community: ≥ 120 (community, community-focused, community-engaged all appeared frequently)
  • Student:  ≥ 100 (most frequently variations on student-centered)
  • Excellence: ≥ 100
  • Integrity: ≥ 75
  • Engage/engagement/engaging: ≥ 55*
  • Inclusive/inclusion/inclusivity: ≥ 50
  • Lead/leader/leadership:  45
  • Educate/education:  45
  • Innovate/innovative/innovation:  44

* Many instances overlap with community (as community-engaged) so not separately included in the word cloud.

Data-Driven Next Steps

• Mission:
  • Free-response feedback will be copied into a readable document.
  • Steering committee members will review and propose an improved mission statement (in the same document).
• Vision:
  • Free-response feedback will be copied into a readable document.
  • Steering committee members will review and propose an improved vision statement (in the same document).
• Values:
  • Steering committee members will review frequently-cited values and review values guidance to propose value words that integrate the two (in the same document).
• The steering committee will jointly refine in preparation for further stakeholder feedback.