Mission and Values

Blackburn College links a rigorous and affordable liberal arts education with a unique student-managed Work Program preparing graduates for careers, community engagement, and lifelong learning.

The Blackburn community values critical and independent thinking, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, service, shared governance, and moral responsibility.

Vision

Blackburn College aspires to provide a distinctive and innovative model of American higher education, grounded in scholarship, student leadership, and cultivated through a community of integrated work, learning, and service.

Strategic Plan Goals – Aspirational

  1. Define, articulate and share the value of the distinctiveness of the Blackburn community and student experience.
  2. Ensure that Blackburn provides under-served populations of students’ access, affordability, and success in higher education.
  3.  Align curricular, co-curricular, and Work Program experiences so that every student is involved in high-engaging, intentional, and socially connecting experiences that contribute to their future success and learning.
  4. Increase Blackburn’s diversity, equity, inclusion and supportive community on campus and in Carlinville.
  5. Broaden support for Blackburn’s mission through donor support, foundation relationships, educational partners, and marketing.
  6. Foster an environment of innovation and encouragement, where ideas that promote our mission are purposely developed, discussed, and given a chance for success.