The College of Education and Allied Professions offers programs of study at the baccalaureate, master's, intermediate, and doctoral levels.
The primary role of the College of Education and Allied Professions is to prepare educators, counselors, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, recreation personnel and other human service specialists at both entry and advanced levels. These professionals will staff public elementary, secondary, postsecondary schools, sport and recreation agencies, and other human service organizations in North Carolina and the region beyond. The College fulfills its mission by developing and maintaining a community of scholars that promotes and recognizes good teaching, service, and research. Of these three scholarly activities, providing optimal learning environments for students is most important, followed by service and research.
The College strives to provide leadership and technical assistance for the improvement of teacher preparation and elementary and secondary schooling in North Carolina , the nation, and developing countries. The College is strongly committed to partnering with the public schools in order to educate pre-service teachers to teach all children to high standards, to assist beginning professional educators to be successful and remain in the profession, and to provide quality staff development for career professional educators.
Additional fundamental roles of the College are to serve the liberal studies program of the University and to offer programs and special clinical services that relate closely to the mission of the College and that are needed by its constituencies.
The College fulfills its mission by creating and nourishing a community of learners guided by knowledge, values, and experiences. The guiding principles of the community of learners include: (1) the belief that the best educational decisions are made after adequate reflection and with careful consideration of the interests, experiences and welfare of the persons affected by those decisions; (2) an appreciation of and respect for diversity; and (3) a commitment to fostering the responsible use of technology.
Vision Statement
By the year 2010, the College of Education and Allied Professions will be recognized nationally as a community of scholars who promote excellence in teaching, service, and research. The College will have created a niche as the university-of-choice for all programs offered.
These programs will have a culturally diverse faculty, staff and student body, and the curricula in these programs will be state-of-the-art, fully staffed, and sufficient in kind and number to meet the needs of its clientele. The College's fully accredited programs will receive exemplary status on all pertinent performance reports.
Assessment systems will ensure quality program development which, in turn, will have resulted in high levels of authentic student learning. The programs will have integrated technology including distance learning and web-based courses. Appropriate programs will be recognized for their expertise in rural matters.
The faculty members of the College will be noted for their teaching excellence, concern for individual students, and modeling of the qualities that they attempt to instill in their students.
The College will continue to be a leader in providing comprehensive opportunities for traditional and non-traditional students. The College's graduates will be noted for their effectiveness in moving their profession forward, for their ethical behavior, their ability to think critically, and for the positive impact they have on the quality of life for those with whom they come into contact.
The College, through its faculty and staff, will be responsive to the needs and the concerns of the people and agencies located in its service area. To this end, the College will engage effectively in a variety of university and community partnerships that include, among others, the public schools, the College of Arts and Sciences, the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching and the Western Region Education Service Alliance and the Education and Research Consortium of North Carolina.
The College will be noted for its research and its collaborative inquiry as well as its alignment of research and teaching. Evidenced-based validation of knowledge and methods will be highly valued. In order to support the goals in teaching, service and research, the College will have acquired external and internal resources to enhance its programs and meet its mission.