About Us

Mission and Goals

Barry University School of Law seeks to offer a quality legal education in a caring environment that will enable its graduates to apply the skills and knowledge they have acquired to their own personal development and to the good of society through the competent and ethical practice of law or through pursuits other than traditional legal practice. The School of Law seeks to provide a learning environment which challenges students to accept intellectual, personal, ethical, spiritual, and social responsibilities. The School commits itself to assuring a religious dimension in an atmosphere of religious freedom and to providing community service.

The School of Law strives to:

• teach students the skills required of a practicing attorney;
• develop awareness among students of the philosophical, social, economic, political, and moral forces shaping the development of law and legal institutions and encourage students to question the fundamental issues raised;
• prepare students for their role in future development of the law;
• provide enrolled students with meaningful opportunities, including internship and externship programs, to apply and refine legal knowledge and skills learned in the classroom;
• foster in students the highest sense of professionalism and understanding of the ethical and moral issues faced by members of the law school community and the larger legal community;
• attract and maintain a diverse student body, faculty, and staff;
• guarantee the academic freedom of both faculty and students to acquire and transmit knowledge;
• provide resources to support faculty members in their teaching, scholarship, and service to the community;
• help students identify and enhance their personal, religious, academic, and career goals and help students develop the means of achieving their goals; and
• provide for an ongoing self-assessment to determine if the institution is accomplishing its mission and meeting its stated goals.

About Barry University

Barry University is a Catholic institution of higher education founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Grounded in the liberal arts tradition, Barry University is a scholarly community committed to the highest academic standards in undergraduate, graduate and professional education.

In the Catholic intellectual tradition, integration of study, reflection and action inform the intellectual life. Faithful to this tradition, a Barry education and university experience foster individual and communal transformation where learning leads to knowledge and truth, reflection leads to informed action, and a commitment to social justice leads to collaborative service.

Barry University provides opportunities for affirming our Catholic identity, Dominican heritage, and collegiate traditions. Catholic beliefs and values are enriched by ecumenical and interfaith dialog.

Through worship and ritual, we celebrate our religious identity while remaining a University community where all are welcome.

CORE COMMITMENTS

Catholic intellectual and religious traditions guide us in the fulfillment of our mission. The mission and values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters serve as the inspiration for our core commitments.

Knowledge and Truth

Inclusive Community

Barry is a global, inclusive community characterized by interdependence, dignity and equality, compassion and respect for self and others. Embracing a global world view, the University nurtures and values cultural, social and intellectual diversity, and welcomes faculty, staff, and students of all faith traditions.

Social Justice

Collaborative Service

Barry is committed to serving local and global communities through collaborative and mutually productive partnerships. The University accepts responsibility to engage with communities to pursue systemic, self-sustaining solutions to human, social, economic and environmental problems.

Approved by the President and the Executive Committee of the Administration on May 15, 2008; approved by the Board of Trustees on May 30, 2008; submitted to the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters for final approval; Council approval received via letter from Sister Rosa Monique Peña, OP on June 20, 2008.

Nature

Barry University is an independent, coeducational Catholic international institution of higher education that fosters academic distinction in the liberal arts and professional studies, in both undergraduate and graduate education, within the Judeo-Christian heritage and the tradition of St. Dominic. Founded in 1940, the University is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Dominic of Adrian, Michigan, and is governed by an independent, self-perpetuating Board of Trustees.

Environment

Barry University, through its 10 academic schools, is a comprehensive university with its main campus located in Miami Shores, Florida with other sites throughout Florida. The University attracts a diverse student body, including traditional and non-traditional students from a variety of geographic, ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds who are committed to taking full advantage of the opportunities provided for learning and personal growth. The University seeks to recruit and retain a diverse faculty who enrich it with their own traditions and heritage, who are dedicated to teaching and advising, to searching for and disseminating truth through scholarship, research, and creative activities and to serving both the University and the larger community in a multicultural environment. The University commits itself to excellence in teaching at all levels, and values its undergraduate, graduate and professional programs supporting their search for knowledge through research and study. The University seeks to maintain a diverse and student-centered staff whose activities enhance the quality of University life. Through its students, faculty and staff Barry University provides a learning environment that challenges all to accept intellectual, spiritual, ethical, physical, and social responsibilities.