A Marymount Education

Marymount University prepares students to be thoughtful and effective persons within their family, community, and society; enables students to develop the competencies necessary for entry, growth, and success in their chosen careers; builds within its students a shared sense of community among individuals drawn from diverse national, cultural, and social backgrounds; fosters in its students a spirit of service to others, a concern for social justice, and a commitment to living in an ethically responsible way; and develops in students both the ability and the motivation to be lifelong learners.

As an educational community, Marymount is formed by the heritage and traditions of liberal arts education, the American higher education community, the Catholic Church, and the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary.

• As a university in the liberal arts tradition, Marymount fosters the development of intellectual curiosity; an unbiased pursuit of truth; an understanding of the varying modes of inquiry utilized across the disciplines; and the skills, competencies, and motivation necessary for intellectual inquiry and lifelong learning. Marymount fosters the pursuit of excellence in teaching, learning, and scholarship and forms a community marked by intellectual freedom, civility, and diverse interpretations of the human experience.
• As a comprehensive university in the American higher education tradition, Marymount is a learning-teaching community that emphasizes excellence in teaching and places a primary focus on the learning-teaching process; strives to contribute to the development of knowledge through the scholarship of its members; and contributes to the development of its community through service outreach programs. The university recognizes the value and importance of career preparation as a fundamental purpose of a university education. The university provides both undergraduate and graduate education, serving a variety of student audiences, in response to the needs and interests of its community and region.
• As a Catholic university, Marymount affirms that the exploration of humanity’s relationship to the Divine is an integral part of the academic work of the university; challenges all members of the university community to live ethically responsible lives; fosters a community of faith exploration open to individuals of diverse religious backgrounds and beliefs; and strives to exemplify its Catholic tradition within the university and in the way in which all members of the university community interact with one another and with the larger community outside the university.
• In the spirit of the university’s founders, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount inspires a shared sense of community among individuals drawn from diverse national, cultural, and social backgrounds and emphasizes a spirit of service to others and responsiveness to the needs of persons and groups who do not fully share in the bounty of the larger community.

The university also is shaped by the unique resources available through its location in the nation’s capital area and by a creative, future-oriented perspective on education.

• The Marymount experience is enriched by the cultural, governmental, business, and professional resources of Washington, DC, a city with an international character and global perspective. The university’s location offers extraordinary professional and scholarly opportunities for faculty; the opportunity to bring leaders from government, commerce, and professions to campus; specialized resources for instruction and research; unique internship placements for students; and outstanding employment opportunities for graduates.
• Marymount has grown and changed extensively since its founding in 1950, reflecting a dynamic period of change in American higher education and reflecting the openness, creativity, and enterprising spirit of the men and women who comprise the Marymount community. Marymount has been willing to look creatively at the educational needs of the region it serves, to respond quickly, and to try new approaches. The university strives to sustain a future-oriented perspective and to serve as a leader in responding to the educational needs of its region and in utilizing innovative instructional technologies and practices.