Vision and Values

The School of Information Studies, established in 1896 and renamed as the first Information School in 1974, has a long tradition of leading innovation and change. Our ideals and values are the foundation for our success.

Our Vision

What matters is that we make a difference in everything we do, and that this difference is a positive one affecting individuals, organization, and ultimately society. We intend to add value to society through education and through the information, systems, and services we help to create. We pledge to do this ethically, competently, professionally, with respect for the individual, and with passion.

Our Values

• Inquiry. We are dedicated to exploration. Exploration and innovation are critically important to the information field and a vital part of our school. We share the university's vision of being a leading student-centered research university by dedication to being a student-centered research college. We promote this aim through discovery, development, application, integration, and active learning.

   

• Individuality. We are committed to the individual. High-performance organizations are composed of high-performance individuals. Our faculty, staff, students, and partners are risk takers who have a high tolerance for ambiguity. While we value our work together in a highly spirited team atmosphere, we value the individual, and respect individuality as such. Our organizational norms dictate that we are relentless in attacking problems, but supportive in valuing individual differences.

   

• Diversity. We are intellectually diverse. Complex problems require multidimensional and interdisciplinary analysis and solutions. The school fosters a multiplicity of “voices” addressing the important areas of teaching and research in the information field. The school seeks faculty from many related disciplines who respect a diversity of opinion and perspective, and thrive on the tension of discussion and debate.

   

• Adaptability. We are adaptive and able to evolve. Today's competitive, complex, and ever-changing environment requires innovation, flexibility, and rapid responses. Our initiatives and developmental processes are driven by a Do-Learn-Revise model. This model encourages entrepreneurship and risk-taking, celebrating success as a community achievement and embracing challenge as a learning opportunity.

   

• Unity. We are a faculty of one. The faculty sits as a whole, not as individuals or groups who represent one specific program in which they teach or ascribe affiliation. Students and faculty are challenged to benefit from the paradox of a single information field manifested in many professional expressions. Students and faculty learn from each other by shared intellectual experiences and by appropriate curriculum integration across the degree programs.

   

• Continuity. We are an enduring organization. With over a century of innovation and leadership behind us, the school makes an enduring contribution to our field. In building our school we concentrate on building an enduring organization that goes beyond the influence of any particular dean or member of the faculty.

   

Our Points of Distinction

• whatever we do, we do through information and for people
• through information we transform individuals, organizations, and society
• we recognize that information technology and management processes are means and not ends