Mission, Beliefs, Values and Vision

Mission Statement:

• We are the collective voice of our members.
• We create change through advocacy.
• We inspire growth through engagement.
• We serve students to help them succeed.

SAMRU Values & Beliefs:

We believe…
• in a community built on individual relationships and shared resources.
• in every individual’s potential and that learning goes beyond the classroom.
• that our integrity requires accountability, openness, responsible stewardship, and ethical governance.
• that diversity makes our community stronger and more vibrant.
• that fun is essential to creativity, engagement, and social development.
• that our autonomy makes it possible to respond to the needs of our members.

SAMRU Essentials:

Legitimacy
The Students’ Association of Mount Royal University has the legal authority and responsibility to act as an official, incorporated, representative body for our members. We build credibility through transparent and accountable governance, consistent and effective management, principled advocacy, and successful operations. We have an excellent reputation because we keep our promises.

Resilience
The Students’ Association of Mount Royal University is financially sustainable, environmentally responsible, and politically astute. Our solid foundation is based on dedicated and passionate staff and volunteers, a reciprocal loyalty between SAMRU and our workers, the possession and control of our own building, excellent financial health, and a progressive policy framework. We stand the test of time.

Relevance
The Students’ Association of Mount Royal University continually seeks to understand and adapt to our members’ needs through engagement, outreach, communication, representation, advocacy, peer support, and service provision. We are an integral part of the student experience.

Relationships
The Students’ Association of Mount Royal University cultivates healthy, productive, and sustainable relationships internally and externally. We collaborate with campus and community groups to provide the best experiences and opportunities for our members. We are the vibrant hub of the campus community.

Learning Organization
The Students’ Association of Mount Royal University pursues the best ways to meet the needs of our members through innovative practices, continual professional development, and systematic evaluation. We are always striving to be better.

SAMRU Vision Statement:

Where students discover themselves, build relationships, and make a difference in the world.

SAMRU Strategic Priorities:

Advocacy
Continue to pursue holistic advocacy that empowers collective and individual student voices" We will endeavour to bring the voices of students, both individually and as a group, to all those that need to hear them. This work includes representing students on MRU committees and boards, to members of municipal, provincial and federal governments and to the community at large, but it also involves empowering our members to hear their own voices, to discover themselves. Sometimes we will bring a common purpose from many voices, but we will also work to make sure that no lone voice is lost in the crowd. We will work to ensure that advocacy is not seen as a compartment of the organization or a specific job duty. Instead we will strive to make all of our work an act of advocacy—through all our daily interaction with students, through the credibility we develop with the community and through the demonstration of our belief in the value of learners, we will endeavour to illuminate the worth of our members and their role in the community.

Community
Develop and sustain relationships with the campus community to foster an environment of authentic collaboration" From our belief in a community built on relationships and shared resources, we will work to build connections among the campus community that enrich the work of all involved. By demonstrating that cooperation, trust and respect lead to authentic relationships we will work to find relevant common purpose with members of the campus community, including the MRU Board, administration, faculty, support staff, and other campus groups. We will work to find mutually beneficial goals and capitalize on opportunities to work with our internal and external campus partners to improve efficiencies and provide value to our members. We will offer our own expertise and services where they are needed to enrich the fabric of the campus community. Finally, we will also encourage and inspire members of the campus community to collaborate independently with each other, modelled on our successful partnerships.

Engagement
Further promote an aware and actively participating membership towards achieving maximum student engagement" We believe engagement goes beyond dissemination of our message, requiring a whole environment of interaction with our members. Engagement involves both active participation in the organization and dialogue. We will value and promote active participation by our members. We will work to find new ways to promote our organization to those members who do not actively participate, to have them be aware of the services and opportunities we offer and make informed choices. We will go above and beyond our current levels of involvement and we will value every interaction with our members as an opportunity for engagement. We recognize that not all students will wish to fully engage with the Students’ Association, but we will challenge ourselves to reach out to as many members as possible. Our goals are to increase active participation and to create an ongoing two way conversation with our members involving face-to-face interactions, forums, emerging technologies, and spontaneous conversations as well as a comprehensive strategy of traditional communication tools.

Enrichment
Continue to deliver enriching and relevant services, opportunities, and events leading to student success" We recognize our members are a community of learners and our services are a complement to their traditional education; we offer our members enriching co-curricular opportunities and provide holistic support for their academic pursuits. We will ensure enduring relevance and value in all of the Students’ Association’s offerings – including services, advocacy, lobbying, and operations. We work in the best interests of students. We also believe enrichment must include fun and excitement— we will work to continue a comprehensive offering of programs from essential support services to entertaining programmed events. To accomplish this we will research new programs, initiatives and services and refine our existing offerings in a way that continually adds to the value to our members.

Innovation
Examine and evaluate our organization to remain innovative and responsive to our members" We will continue our commitment to being a learning organization whose actions are informed by effective engagement with our key stakeholders by maintaining honest and critical evaluation of our operations, by seeking out new best practices, and by developing innovative initiatives. We will consistently look to improve our existing activities as well as seek new opportunities for our members. We will work to ensure our effectiveness by using qualitative and quantitative tools to collect input from students, from the campus community, and from other stakeholders. We will value this input as essential to our growth, even when it may be critical or challenging. We will reflect on the input we receive and work to employ it in the best possible way. Finally, we will be courageous and innovative—willing to take calculated risks on new, untested initiatives and we will examine those new initiatives to evaluate their success.