Mission Statement

The Department of Physics, as a member of the College of Letters and Sciences, strives to:

• Create an environment that supports learning and research,
• improve students' ability to analyze problems and develop appropriate solutions; and
• create a community of scholars and students who aspire to high standards of achievement.

As a science department, we regard our mission to include:

• Teaching students systematic methods for evaluating evidence and information by helping them build and test physical hypotheses and theories; and
• fostering students' critical thinking skills, such as drawing conclusions, inferring relationships, solving problems and making predictions about the natural world.

As a department of physics, we are committed to providing:

• A rigorous and effective curriculum for physics majors and minors, with depth of study for those students who desire to pursue a career in, or further study of, physics, astronomy, engineering, technology or science education;
• effective and engaging courses for students who choose to take physics or astronomy courses either as part of the breadth of a liberal arts education or whose majors or career goals require them;
• educational experiences in physics and astronomy through public outreach, with emphasis on the UW - Whitewater service area; and
• opportunities for students and faculty to engage in research.

Approved by the Physics department 11/19/2008