Cedar Crest College is a liberal arts college primarily for women dedicated to the education of the next generation of leaders. Cedar Crest College prepares students for life in a global community by educating the whole student at all stages of life and experience.

Philosophy of Graduate Education

Building upon the College’s tradition of teaching excellence, graduate education at Cedar Crest aspires to provide men and women with the expertise, judgment, vision, and inspiration to participate actively and responsibly within the diverse communities and dynamic knowledge networks wherein their professional lives will unfold. Institutionally, this commitment rests upon four values which serve as the foundation for the College’s philosophy of graduate education:

Scholarship: Graduate programs should ensure that students master the theoretical perspectives, methodological techniques, and professional practices essential to the production of knowledge within their disciplines. This includes exposing students to an expanded definition of scholarship which moves beyond the traditional emphasis upon discovery to include the integration, application and dissemination of knowledge within and across disciplines.

Innovation: Graduate programs should ensure that students recognize the role that creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit more generally, plays as a catalyst for the advancement of knowledge. While programs should acknowledge the value of risk-taking as an inherent element of scholarly practice, students also should learn that professional conduct must be tempered by an ethic of responsibility for the communities within which they live, work and learn.

Collaboration: Graduate programs should ensure that students understand how the revolution in information technology is profoundly altering the nature of professional practice by empowering epistemic communities from around the world to respond to issues of local, national and global significance. Programs should equip students with the communications and technological skills needed to collaborate within the context of transnational and interdisciplinary networks that serve as sites for the production, application and dissemination of knowledge.

Professionalism: Academic programs should ensure that students learn how theoretical perspectives, methodological techniques, and professional practices can be utilized to address the practical needs of local, national and global communities. While programs should acknowledge the value of professional expertise, students also should learn how to recognize, respect and collaborate with the human and social capital embedded within diverse communities.