Augusta State University is committed to excellence in teaching, advancement of knowledge, and enrichment of the community in a climate that fosters humane values and a life-long love of learning. With origins in the founding of the Academy of Richmond County in 1783 and the creation of a separate Junior College of Augusta in 1925, the University mission is predicated on the cultural, social, and economic value of a strong liberal arts education. This enlarges its students' individual versatility, creative powers, cultural appreciation, knowledge of the world, respect for others, and professional expertise.

Augusta State University strives to be a national model of excellence for its quality of service to the second largest metropolitan area in Georgia. With a broad array of undergraduate programs and a select offering of graduate programs below the doctoral level, it functions as a metropolitan, non-residential university for the area.

Open to the voices of its members, the University serves a population diverse in race, background, age, and preparation. It provides access not only to those who are fully ready for college but also to the underprepared who show potential and to those seeking the kind of academic challenge normally associated with elite, private institutions.

Emphasizing student-faculty contact, the University fosters intellectual growth through learning assistance, honors courses, and student research. It promotes electronic information technologies and links students with the world community of scholarship.

The University collaborates with the Medical College of Georgia, Paine College, Augusta Technical Institute, Fort Gordon, and P-12 schools. It makes constant, programmatic use of local industries, agencies, and institutions as laboratories for practical learning experiences. In an area with a large healthcare industry, it provides undergraduate general education courses for the Medical College students, prepares students to enter programs at that institution, and educates others to work in the medical field. It is also the principal source of training for the area's teachers and business leaders.

Augusta State University is acutely conscious of its responsibility to a community where its graduates become teachers and artists, professionals and civic leaders. It seeks to serve by enriching its area culturally, improving economic and social conditions, and promoting personal and professional development. To these ends, the University cultivates intellectually vital faculty members who are excellent in teaching, active in research, generous in service, and committed to its mission. The University also strives to have its faculty, staff, curriculum, and program reflect the increasing diversity of the population and world from which its students come.

Devoted to constant improvement, the University assesses its performance by evaluating its stewardship of resources, responsiveness to the area needs, involvement with its community, the response of the public it serves, and most importantly, the success of the students it educates. 

1. Develop constantly improving, high-quality academic programs that encourage achievement and intellectual development among students, faculty, and staff.
2. Actively recruit, retain, and graduate students from the Central Savannah River Area and assist all students in achieving their educational objectives.
3. Create intellectual, physical, and social environments that enhance the values of open discourse, civility, and respect for individuals among students who are diverse in ethnicity, gender, background, age, and academic preparation.
4. Effectively extend educational services to the greater Augusta area through cultural programs, continuing education, technical assistance, and other means appropriate to community needs and the mission of the university.
5. Recruit and provide for the continuing professional development of highly qualified faculty and staff.

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