From the President
At Berea College, we put ideas and ideals into action. Berea has always been a place where deep commitments are translated into the lived experiences of our community. Berea’s distinctive and multifaceted mission is captured in our founder John G. Fee’s emphasis on “impartial love,” and is firmly rooted in our inclusive Christian values such as “the triumph of love over hate, human dignity and equality, and peace with justice.” Berea’s motto, included in the original catalog from 1866 and still proclaimed today, is reflective of the inspirational values that inspired our founding and determined our mission and identity, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Based on these founding principles, Berea College became the first interracial and coeducational college in the pre-Civil War South, enacting the highest ideals of equality by educating black and white, male and female together. Serving students from the Appalachian region to the world beyond, we aspire to continue these values by providing educational opportunity, meaning, aspiration, and transformation today.
Berea’s primary mission is to serve students of “great promise and limited economic resources” by providing them with liberal arts and professional educations of the highest quality. Thus, all students receive a substantial cost-of-education scholarship so that no money from students or their families is required for tuition. Berea’s educational community is predicated on the notion that work of all kinds, mental and physical, provides opportunities for furthering a student’s education and personal development. Therefore, all students work in our campus-based Labor Program. Just as one of our institutional goals is to serve others, so too we seek to prepare our students to be “service-oriented leaders for Appalachia and beyond” (Being and Becoming: Berea College in the 21st Century, 2011, p. 34). Learning, labor, and service, then, are the three foundational pillars of Berea’s educational edifice.
Today Berea College depends on College Faculty to provide most of the formal instruction in the classroom, on other employees throughout the institution to provide learning opportunities for students in the Labor Program, and on yet other employees to guide the spiritual development of students and oversee the service and outreach components of the institution. This integrated and multifaceted understanding of our education program has been articulated in the form of four pairs of Common Learning Goals for all students and workers at the College. These are set forth in Being and Becoming and paraphrased as follows:
- Develop the critical intellectual ability to address complex problems from multiple perspectives and nurture moral growth with a commitment to service;
- Understand the relationship between humans and the natural world, and consider both the benefits and limitations of science and technology;
- Explore our own individual roots and our shared American culture, and know and respect cultures from around the world;
- Educate students, faculty, and staff to be creative, independent thinkers and encourage collaboration and teamwork in learning and working (Being and Becoming, p. v; see pp. 56-60 for a detailed discussion of each learning goal).
These four sets of learning goals represent an application of our eight Great Commitments within the context of our contemporary world.
By providing students with both academic learning and opportunities to apply the knowledge they gain, by encouraging students to work on applied projects outside the classroom, by supporting extra-disciplinary learning in areas like wellness and sustainability, and by relating classroom activities to the service and labor activities in which students are engaged, Berea faculty members bring those other aspects of students’ lives and experiences into the classroom. While the classroom does and must remain the primary domain of instruction in the traditional disciplines, ideally it is also open to students’ searches for new ways of viewing their personal development, their family and friends, their faith, their vocation or work, and their future.
Finally, I urge you to see your work and yourself in the context of Berea as a caring community. I hope that you will support your colleagues, faculty and staff alike, as we partner in providing a transformative educational experience for all our students. I hope equally that you will find joy in everything you learn and gain from our community. Our students, both now when they are on campus and later when they are in the world as Berea graduates, are always members of our learning community. I am thrilled and honored to be part of such an inspirational community, creating the special place that is Berea College with you, my colleagues, and all devoted Bereans.
Cheryl L. Nixon
President
August 2023