2021- 2022 Catalog

University Mission

Mission Statement

Located in the heart of southwest Arkansas, Henderson State University is a public institution serving as a vital educational and cultural center for the local community, region, and state. Founded as a private institution in 1890, Henderson has a strong liberal arts heritage that is the base of over seventy-five undergraduate and graduate programs, earning the university its status as Arkansas’s public liberal arts university.

Henderson offers a quality education guided by a faculty and staff who are committed to excellence and dedicated to serving a diverse student body from across Arkansas, over twenty-five other states, and a number of foreign countries. The university encourages scholarly and creative activities in a caring, personal atmosphere that reflects the university’s motto for over a century: “The School with a Heart.”

Influenced by its distinctive history, the mission of Henderson State University is to provide a learning environment that prepares students for a lifetime of intellectual and personal growth in a global society. The Henderson experience bridges students’ academic aspirations to career success by integrating professional studies and the liberal arts.

Commitment to Outcomes Assessment

Henderson is committed to a continuous process of improving all areas of the institution, particularly student academic achievement. Faculty regularly assess the extent to which students have developed skills, knowledge bases, attitudes, and behaviors which are required of the specific profession and/or the applicable accreditation standards. Faculty and staff also evaluate student perceptions of coursework, teaching, advising, and other important services provided to support student learning. This allows students to have a voice in improving not only the qualify of their own educational experience, but also the experiences of future Henderson students. This assessment and evaluation process occurs at the individual, class, program, department, and university levels. Results of this assessment process are used to help make decisions to enhance the quality of student learning and the learning environment at Henderson. Students should anticipate participating in wide array of evaluation and assessment procedures throughout their educational careers. All those who participate in this assessment and evaluation process, including students, faculty and staff, are expected to enter into these procedures openly and honestly in an effort to assess Henderson State University in this continuous improvement process.