How-to develop a purpose statement

Approach #1: Have open discussions with department faculty on one of the following topics or similar topics

Describe the ideal student in your program at various phases throughout your program. Be concrete and focus on those strengths, skills, and values that you feel are the result of, or at least supported and nurtured by, the program experience. Then ask:
What does this student know?
What can this student do?
What does this student care about?
What future opportunities will this student be prepared to succeed at?
List and briefly describe the program experiences that contribute most to the development of the ideal student.
List the achievements you implicitly expect of graduates in each major field.
Describe your alumni in terms of such achievements as career accomplishments, lifestyles, citizenship activities, and aesthetic and intellectual involvement.

Approach #2: Review and react to purpose statement of other programs that are similar but from other institutions.

Try grouping the statements into broad categories of student outcomes (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, behavior).

Approach #3: Collect and review documents that describe your department and its programs

adapted from the Ball State University, Assessment Workbook (1999).