Our mission is to prepare young people, by means of a useful education in liberal arts and sciences, for engaged lives of citizenship and leadership in the service of society.

Dickinson College was founded explicitly for high purposes: to prepare young people, by means of a useful education in the liberal arts and sciences, for engaged lives of citizenship and leadership in the service of society. This is the historic mission of the College and that to which we still subscribe as we face the future.

The American Revolution brought into being the world's first modern democracy and launched an ambitious social and political experiment. Our founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and our College namesake and his good friend, Governor John Dickinson, were themselves leading figures of the revolution and the new republic. They recognized that the success of the American experiment would depend on the power of liberal education to remake colonial society and to produce a democratic culture. With this important goal in mind, they transformed the Carlisle Grammar School (which had been founded in 1773) into an institution of higher learning: Dickinson College. The College was chartered on September 9, 1783, less than a week after the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolution and guaranteed recognition to the United States by Great Britain and the rest of the European powers.

Dickinson College, therefore, began life as the first college formed under the banner of the young republic and, more importantly, as a revolutionary project -- dedicated to safeguarding liberty through the creation of an educated body of citizen-leaders.

Dickinson College prepares aspiring students for engaged and fulfilling lives of accomplishment, leadership and service to their professions, to their communities, to the nation and to the world. Our founders intended the College to be a powerful agent of change -- to advance the lot of humankind -- and we expect no less today.