The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) advances the full range of arts-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice to acknowledge, articulate, and expand the vital role of higher education in our global society. a2ru envisions a world in which universities - students, faculty, and leaders - acknowledge, deeply embed, and seamlessly integrate the arts in the pursuit of basic knowledge and in everyday practice. As an organization, we value the arts as core to higher education, deep disciplinary knowledge and applied research in the arts, interdisciplinary creativity, durable collaboration, diverse community, and the research university as a driver toward a better world.