Mission & Values
Our Mission
The University of Portland, an independently governed Catholic university guided by the Congregation of Holy Cross, addresses significant questions of human concern through disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies of the arts, sciences, and humanities and through studies in majors and professional programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a diverse community of scholars dedicated to excellence and innovation, we pursue teaching and learning,faith and formation, service and leadership in the classroom, residence halls, and the world. Because we value the development of the whole person, the University honors faith and reason as ways of knowing, promotes ethical reflection, and prepares people who respond to the needs of the world and its human family.
Our Values
Our values inspire a culture that guides the institution’s planning, programming, operations, and success so that UP students, faculty, staff, and alumni can put the mission into practice on and beyond the Bluff. Inspired by our Catholic, Holy Cross mission, the University of Portland values the intrinsic dignity of every person; being in community with others; academic inquiry and excellence; ethical reflection; engagement with our city, region, and world; and hope and faith for a better future.
University of Portland Motto
Veritas Vos Liberabit—The Truth Will Set You Free
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Dignity (Imago Dei: Intrinsic Dignity and Value of Every Person)
We affirm the dignity of every person as made in the image of God. We embrace our shared humanity, respect the diverse identities that make up our community, and care for the needs of each other.
Our concern for the dignity of every human being as God’s cherished child directs our care.1
1. Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross; “Mission” (2:15)
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Community (Communitas: Being in Community with Others)
We are guided by our mission to educate the whole person – head, heart, and hands – as part of a dynamic learning community, one of welcome, hospitality, inclusivity, and belonging.
We grow …by living in community.2
2. Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross; “Brotherhood (4:34).
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Inquiry (Quaestio: Academic Inquiry and Excellence)
We promote excellence in all our academic programs through inclusive intellectual inquiry rooted in the liberal arts, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, and Holy Cross ideals.
[We] cultivate an inquiring and well-nourished mind broadened by…experience and reflection, there is no age when we can lay aside further systematic or experiential learning, or continuing education.3
3. Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross; “Formation and Transformation” (6:71)
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Ethics (Virtus: Ethical Reflection)
We pursue the common good by promoting ethical reflection as an integral component for making decisions and developing habits of heart and mind.
We shall always place education side by side with instruction; the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart. While we prepare useful citizens for society, we shall likewise do our utmost to prepare citizens for heaven.4
4. Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC; Founder, Congregation of Holy Cross; Circular Letter 36
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Engagement (Participatio: Engagement with Our City and Our World)
We partner with and serve communities in Portland and beyond through collaboration, hospitality, generosity, and solidarity so that we may respond to the needs of the world and its human family. We do this by forming leaders who recognize their given context and address systems of injustice to promote human flourishing.
There are networks of privilege, prejudice, and power so commonplace…[that] we must have the competence to see and the courage to act.5
5. Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross; “Mission” (2:14)
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Hope (Spes: Hope and Faith for a Better World)
We believe our building a better world is anchored in the living faith of our Catholic, Holy Cross character. This character is anchored in the Cross of Jesus as our hope.
We must be people with hope to bring.6
6. Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross; “The Cross, Our Only Hope” (8:118)
Every day, we, University of Portland community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, support all people in growing spiritually so together we can pursue meaning and purpose which transforms education into a work of resurrection, that contributes “to preparing the world for better times than ours.”7
7. Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC; Founder, Congregation of Holy Cross; Christian Education
