Morgan State University's mission is to be a state-supported urban university with responsibility for instruction, research and public service. While it is a historically black university, it is to enroll a heterogeneous student population and to maintain as a primary goal, the education of the less advantaged and the under-represented, who constitute a large percentage of the population of Baltimore City and an increasingly higher percentage of the population of the State of Maryland.

Morgan is to offer strong undergraduate arts and sciences programs, pre-professional and professional programs and master's and doctoral degree programs that address the political, social, educational and economic concerns of the urban community and the under-representation of minorities in the professional world, as well as the needs of students being graduated from urban school systems. The University is to be, by its location, the nature of its professional programs, the focus of its research, the expertise of its faculty and the nature of its students, an integral part of the resource base used by planners, developers and promoters within Baltimore City, municipal government, the corporate community, other community organizations and the State.

Moreover, the University is to have as an overarching objective, the development within its students an understanding of and appreciation for the human condition in urban America and sense of social responsibility to contribute to improving the quality of life in the urban community. Morgan State University is especially sensitive to its mission to address the under-representation of Blacks and other minorities in higher education and in the professional world.