Standards of Excellence
The Spelman Way: Nothing Less Than the Best
Civility:
interacting with integrity in a manner that is both respectful and courteous.
Commitment:
Executing my responsibilities with unwavering dedication to excellence and
sustainability.
Consistency:
Always delivering quality outcomes in a reliable, timely, and positive manner.
Understanding the Spelman Sisterhood
Spelman College provides long-standing and life-changing connections to a diverse and dynamic
sisterhood. Spelman Sisterhood represents a community of women who share in the educational and
social experiences of Spelman College. It represents a feeling of kinship and the closeness you feel with
another Spelmanite. It’s a warm smile on a cold and rainy day, a friendly hug, or a cheerful hello. It’s
counting on others and being counted on. It’s expressing care, concern, and respect for others, who then
do likewise in return.
The Spelman Sisterhood is all that a good and lasting friendship is, only better. It is a treasured and
sacred experience of knowing that there will always be someone there to support you. The Spelman
Sisterhood represents our shared dreams and accountability to each other to achieve our personal,
academic, social, and career goals. While chance or circumstances have made us friends and
acquaintances, making the choice to be a Spelmanite has made us sisters.
What It Takes to Be a Spelman Sister
Accountability
is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for your actions, decisions,
and compliance with policies. It also means being answerable for resulting consequences.
Civility
is demonstrating courtesy and politeness in action and/or oral and written expression with
members of the Spelman community.
Community
– As a member of Spelman College, you have voluntarily entered into an institution with
a strong intellectual and cultural heritage. Each Spelmanite is a member of an elite community of
learners who are expected to exhibit thoughtful academic study and discourse, and ethical and
socially responsible behaviors on and off campus.
Diversity
requires that each Spelmanite know how to relate to those qualities and conditions that are
different from her own and outside the groups to which she belongs. These include but are not limited
to age, ethnicity, class, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, as well as
religious status, gender expression, educational background, geographical location, income, marital
status, parental status, and work experiences. These categories of difference are not always fixed:
they can be fluid. The overall goal of diversity is that each Spelmanite learn to respect the individual
rights of her sister, and recognize that no one individual or culture is intrinsically superior to another.
Integrity
means demonstrating
honesty, respect for truth, and congruence with College standards
and behavior expectations in all exchanges and interactions with your Spelman Sisters.
Friendship
means sharing a strong bond of mutual understanding, respect, and love that serves as
the foundation for building a trusting relationship between two or more Spelman sisters.
Mentoring
–
Mentoring is a developmental partnership through which a Spelman sister shares her
knowledge, skills, information, and perspective to foster the personal and professional growth of
another Spelman sister. We all have a need for insight that is outside of our normal life and
educational experience. The power of mentoring is that it creates a one-of-a-kind opportunity for
collaboration, goal achievement and problem-solving between Spelman sisters.
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