What does it mean for DePaul University to describe itself as being
a “Vincentian,” “Catholic,” and “Urban” university?

The Office of Mission and Values has long believed that at DePaul there is a critical mass of people who together create a leadership culture supporting our higher education mission as a Catholic, Vincentian and urban university. This has translated into a wonderful array of academic programs, student services, and operational support services.   At the core of mission effectiveness is the impact it has upon our students and their success.
Ask any faculty member, student, administrator or member of the staff to talk about the mission and you will get anecdotes, stories, and countless impressions on DePaul’s distinctive mission.  Though the stories, anecdotes, etc., may abound we lacked the accurate quantitative assessment metrics to provide a compelling institutional narrative. 
Toward this end, the Office of Mission and Values, along with Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D and graduate student Jessica Velcoff (LAS: Psychology Department), over the past four years surveyed students, faculty and staff on their perceptions of the University’s Catholic, Vincentian and Urban identity, and the relative effectiveness of the university’s many attempts to act on that identity.  The survey was done using a reliable self-reporting instrument created by the Office of Mission and Values and Dr. Ferrari.  
Click on any of the following links for the survey itself, survey results, and survey reports:

• Multimedia Presentation of Student Engagement Survey
• DMV Survey for Faculty and Staff
• DMV Survey for Students
• Results in bar graph format, question-by-question
• Executive Summary 2003-2006
• Report by Joseph Ferrari, PhD and Jessica Velcoff, May 2005
• Qualitative Analysis of Student Perceptions in the Student DMV Survey

In 2006-07,  we turned our research efforts towards looking at the highly engaged mission student.  Our purpose was to be able to 1) determine the characteristics of a highly engaged DePaul student; especially when it comes to our mission and 2) then determine what it takes for these students to become highly engaged.  The eventual goal is to create a mission engagement program that creates a cohort of students in the final quarter of their sophomore year and takes them through a program of DePaul’s mission and values formation and ever increasing engagement until their Senior year.  Please check out our finding below.

• Student Engagement Summary
• Student Engagement Results
• Student Engagement-Engaged Leaders at a Faith-based University