Chapter 1 Activity: Mission Statements

Interrogating Mission Statements

Designed by Ashley Burchett and Francesca King

Find a mission statement from your institution and another one. In 1-2 paragraphs, compare and contrast the metaphors, language used (or not used) between your institution’s statement and the one you found. Note the tone, audience, services offered, deficit/non-deficit language, etc. Critically analyze the statement and pose comments/questions that you’d like to have a conversation with the director about. For example:

University of Wyoming Mission Statement: 

The UW Writing Center believes that effectively communicating ideas through writing provides opportunity for self-advocacy, efficacy, and community. We support writers at every level throughout the many stages of the writing process. We seek to provide writers with the tools they need to accomplish their goals, with the ultimate aim of making better writers and not just better writing.

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Mission Statement:

The Writing Center shares in the University’s mission to serve as a center for scholarship, creative endeavor, and public service. We work with students, faculty, and staff on any writing project at any point in the writing process, helping them to become more skillful, flexible writers. Through campus conversations about academic writing and outreach activities, we promote successful writing for all members of our community.

Purdue OWL Mission Statement:

The On-Campus and Online versions of Purdue OWL assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue OWL serves the Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

Potential questions you could ask UNC’s director: 

• • Why is the word serve/service repeated?
  • Can you explain “campus conversations…”?
  • What is your definition of ‘successful writing’?
  • What is the benefit of helping a writer be ‘flexible’? Is it something to do with being able to analyze and respond to a rhetorical context?
  • Does the adherence to the university mission statement limit anything?
  • Reflective question in the title of: What is the WC’s mission?

Potential questions you could ask Purdue OWL’s director:

• • The phrase ‘no matter what their skill level’ is isolated in the sentence structure between dashes. Do you think that calling attention to the skill level of writers could potentially isolate them from your services?
  • What does global support mean?
  • Why is the word serve/service repeated? What relationship does this establish between consultants and the writers they work with?
  • A mission statement generally outlines aims and values. The latter half of the statement suggests a more ‘About Us’ vibe. What is the effect?