Mission:

The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma is the state's public liberal arts college. Its mission is to provide the public with a distinctive and accessible liberal arts and sciences education. In combining an interdisciplinary core curriculum with superior instruction in major fields of study, USAO aims to provide a thorough education that prepares students for meaningful, purposeful lives.

Beliefs:

USAO offers a broad educational experience. As Oklahoma's only public liberal arts university, USAO provides students a broad educational experience, grounded in the sciences and humanities, that reinforces communication, critical thinking and problem solving.

Coursework is built around a unique interdisciplinary core. USAO's Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) program maintains a 50 year tradition of integrating knowledge from many disciplines and is required of all students who begin their college work at USAO.

USAO pioneered the innovative team-teaching approach. Team-teaching in the IDS program is an innovative approach that puts two or more professors from different disciplines into the classroom, offering students differing perspectives and approaches to the same material.

Our mission attracts highly qualified faculty. Nearly 90% of USAO's faculty have terminal degrees in their field and no classes are taught by teaching assistants. Faculty members come from prestigious graduate schools from across the country.

The small campus environment fosters relationships. Enrollment caps contribute to USAO having a student-to-faculty ration of 15:1, creating an environment where students have access to faculty and know one another.

Curiosity is encouraged and nurtured. USAO fosters an environment where curiosity is at the heart of the academic experience and creativity is the norm, not the exception.

Students stay and graduate. USAO attracts curious-minded students who thrive in this kind of environment and tend to graduate at higher rates than most public universities of its size.

Graduates succeed in post-graduate study and become leaders in their field. USAO students succeed in graduate school and rise to positions of leadership in their chosen field.

We counter the common perception that quality is not affordable. USAO is nationally recognized for its affordability (Kiplinger's, US News), upward social mobility (Washington Monthly), as well as the rigor of its academic approach (thebestschools.org, ACTA).

USAO fills an unduplicated role in the state higher education system. As Oklahoma's only public liberal arts university, USAO serves a unique purpose with an educational mission that is unduplicated in the state system of higher education.

History:

Celebrating a century of service as Oklahoma's only public liberal arts college, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma – nationally ranked for quality and value – is a recognized leader and innovator in interdisciplinary studies.

Like the best private liberal arts colleges, USAO offers small classes, award-winning faculty committed to teaching (91 percent have the terminal degree), and a campus culture that fosters close faculty-student interaction and undergraduate research opportunities. USAO dedicates itself to educating the whole student, encourages personal development through public service, and offers nationally ranked teams in five sports.

The college was founded in 1908 as a women's institution, Oklahoma College for Women (OCW), the first college created by Oklahoma's first legislature. USAO is one of only seven state institutions with similar missions ever created in the United States. Other than the University of Oklahoma, USAO has the oldest original mission of any state college or university in Oklahoma. Located in Chickasha, USAO is the only Oklahoma college to be named a National Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.