IN LUCE TUA VIDEMUS LUCEM
Valparaiso University is dedicated to superior teaching based on excellent scholarship. As a scholarly community it actively engages in the exploration, transmission and enlargement not only of knowledge but also the cultural and religious heritage of mankind, and is proud to prepare men and women for professional service. This community values respect for learning and truth, for human dignity, for freedom from ignorance and prejudice, and for a critically inquiring spirit. The University aims to develop in its members these values, together with a sense of vocation and social responsibility. It holds that these values receive their deepest meaning and strength within the context of the Christian faith. As a church related university concerned for the needs of its students in all aspects of their development as well as for the problems which face society, it aims to graduate informed and sensitive men and women who will not only leave their marks on society but find lives of personal fulfillment as well. Proud of all its alumni who have carried its values into leadership roles in their communities, the church, social institutions and the nation, it aims to continue graduating such potential leaders.
Under neither the control nor the authority of any church body, the University is an independent institution owned and operated by The Lutheran University Association. For more than half a century the University has been affiliated with congregations and members of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It enjoys, too, a partnership with members of all Lutheran churches, with all its constituents who share its aims and voluntarily support it, and with the communities of Northwest Indiana.
The University's concern for the personal and intellectual development of each student is rooted in its Lutheran heritage. This Christian philosophy of education guides both the design of its curriculum and the approach to learning that it fosters. Beyond the courses in theology which the curriculum provides, the University emphasizes a Christian freedom which liberates the scholar to explore any idea and theory, a vocation freely uniting faith and intellectual honesty. In its residential life the University leads students to accept personal responsibility for their development and encourages a sense of caring for one another. Standing together at the center of the campus, the Chapel of the Resurrection and Moellering Memorial Library express the University's belief in the creative relationship between faith and learning. The University's motto, too, points up this relationship: In luce tua videmus lucem, "In thy light we see light."
The Chapel is the focal point for worship, the proclamation of the Gospel and many cultural events. Both Sunday and daily services bring together members of the University who choose to worship together. Students and professional Chapel staff offer a broad and creative ministry to the whole community. As the University welcomes students of varied denominations and religious traditions, so it welcomes the involvement of community churches in those students' lives. A Roman Catholic student center, for example, is located next to the campus, and some churches of other denominations offer transportation to their services in town.
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