Student_Affairs_Annual_Assessment_Report_2021

5 and are more likely to remain connected to the University following graduation. Northern alumni leverage the knowledge and skills gained in and out of the classroom to contribute to their communities, our state, and the nation. VISION : To promote student success through engagement, holistic wellness, and providing excellent student- centered services. MISSION : To advance the student success agenda of Northern State University, we will: • Provide safe, comfortable, affordable, and physically and programmatically appealing housing and dining programs to students living on campus; • Provide integrated wellness services to address physical and behavioral health; • Educate students; encourage personal accountability for their choices and actions; refer students to appropriate resources on and off-campus; • Engage students in leadership opportunities; social justice activities; provide educational, social, and entertaining programs and events; • Foster opportunities for students to provide feedback to the university and participate in shared governance. VALUES : Our values represent beliefs and principles that drive the culture and priorities of Student Affairs and provide the crucial framework within which decisions are made. Student Development - Creating services, environments, and programs that develop students along intellectual, cognitive, social, ethical, and identity dimensions. Personal and Social Responsibility - Educating students to strive for excellence, cultivate personal and academic integrity, contribute to a larger community, take seriously the perspectives of others and develop competence in ethical and moral reasoning and action ( Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2007). Holistic Wellness - Promoting cognitive, cultural, emotional, environmental, financial, physical, social, and spiritual wellness as critical components of student success. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Fostering a diverse and international community that includes, validates, recognizes, and respects all ethnicities, genders, sexualities, identities, abilities, cultures, and worldviews as a required foundation of student success. Engagement - Developing an engaged student body creates an inclusive community, fully participates in the life of the university, connects classroom content to real-life situations, and integrates learning into their understanding of the world around them. Engaged students perform better academically, persist to graduation, and are more likely to remain connected to the University following graduation. Transitions - Welcoming and assisting students in the transition to college and Northern State University in ways that support the values and priorities of retention, persistence, engagement, and wellness. LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT Northern State University acknowledges South Dakota as the ancestral territory of the Santee, Yankton, and Teton Lakota, which is an alliance known as the Oceti Sakowin (o-che-tee sha-koh-ween) (Seven Council Fires). Oceti Sakowin is historically known as the Sioux by non-Native people. The nine Native Nations that share the state’s geography include: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe. Northern State University acknowledges that before this land was called South Dakota, it was home to many Native Nations indigenous to this area. It is with profound respect that we acknowledge the indigenous peoples of this land past, present and future.