Mission, Vision, & Ideals
Our Mission
Inspired by its founding commitment to women’s education, Stephens College prepares students for lives of leadership, creativity, and impact through personalized, experiential education rooted in care, mentorship, and professional engagement, cultivating graduates who act with purpose and empower others.
Our Vision
Stephens College will be known as a transformative educational institution that turns potential into purpose by centering partnership in its teaching, operations, and community engagement, creating a future where individuals, communities, and organizations grow together to meet the challenges and opportunities of a changing world.
OUR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
We began in 1833 with a belief that women deserved access to the power of education. Nearly two centuries later, that work is still unfinished: because the world still needs more leaders who create, care, build, question, and act with purpose. Stephens College exists to widen the frame of possibility for students and communities through education rooted in relationship, real-world experience, and partnership. We do what few institutions can: connect personalized education, professional preparation, creative practice, and community partnership in ways that turn learning into action and action into lasting impact. We are an institution of higher learning and a vital partner in building a more purposeful, creative, and connected future.
Our Values: The Ten Ideals
Inherent in the culture of Stephens College is the tradition of the Ten Ideals, which originated in 1921 and which represent the core values that enrich and inspire our lives. Each year, 10 students (“The Ten”) are selected as personifications of individual ideals. The Ten are revealed at Honors Convocation, a long-standing campus tradition that celebrates outstanding students, faculty and alumni.
Respect for our own dignity and the dignity of others, embodied in a sense of social justice
Courage and persistence
Independence, autonomy and self-sufficiency
Support for others through the willingness to take and give criticism, acceptance and love
Sensitivity to the uniqueness and fragility of the natural world of which we are part
Responsibility for the consequences of our choices
Belief in our changing selves and in our right to change
Creativity in the spiritual and aesthetic dimensions of life
Intelligence that is informed and cultivated, critical yet tolerant
Leadership which empowers others