Mission and Values

Mission Statement

Saybrook University relentlessly pursues a socially just, sustainable world by educating humanistic leaders who transform their fields and communities.

Core Principles and Values

  1. We value life and embrace our responsibility to facilitate the potential of every living being to thrive in a just, inclusive, healthy, and sustainable world.
  2. We are scholar-practitioners who seek and apply knowledge to solve problems and foster social transformation.
  3. We live and conduct our affairs with integrity. We hold ourselves accountable for honoring commitments to ourselves and to one another, to Saybrook University, and to the constituencies and communities within which we live and work, including the natural world.
  4. We insist upon operational and academic rigor in order to provide an exceptional educational experience for you.
  5. We seek diversity because we recognize that there are many ways of knowing and there are inherent strengths in multiple perspectives.
  6. We approach what we do with systems, or holistic, perspective based on a belief in the inherent interconnection of all things.
  7. We create relationships and communities built on compassion, respect, authentic voice, deep listening, reflective awareness, support, and challenge leading to responsible action.
  8. We are creative, risk-taking leaders who challenge assumptions and imagine new possibilities.
  9. We recognize that dynamic tensions and fundamental paradoxes are essential aspects of being human and we commit to find ways to work with them productively.
  10. We celebrate life, striving to bring fun and joy to our individual and collective existence.

Building a Community

Saybrook University approaches education with a belief in the inherent interconnectedness of all things. As scholar-practitioners, our faculty continue to question and offer alternatives to mainstream axioms—fostering positive social transformation. Because the value of life cannot be measured, we strive to facilitate the potential of every living being to thrive in a just, inclusive, and sustainable world. Members of the Saybrook community keep alive the spirit of innovative and creative approaches as they confront the complex challenges of our time.