Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement Classification
I'm pleased to report that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has announced its new Community Engagement classification, and that the University of Minnesota is one of the initial group of 76. To quote from the press release
Institutions were classified in one of three categories:
Curricular Engagement describes teaching, learning and scholarship which engage faculty, students and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration. Their interactions address community-identified needs, deepen students' civic and academic learning, enhance community well-being and enrich the scholarship of the institution. (5 institutions)
Outreach and Partnerships describes two different but related approaches to community engagement. The first focuses on the application and provision of institutional resources for community use with benefits to both campus and community. The latter focuses on collaborative interactions with community and related scholarship for the mutually beneficial exchange, exploration and application of knowledge, information and resources (research, capacity building, economic development, etc.). (9 institutions)
Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships includes institutions with substantial commitments in both areas described above. (62 institutions)
The U of MN was one of the 62 institutions that qualified for both Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships, one of a handful of public research universities.
The press release notes that "even among the most compelling applications, few institutions described promotion and tenure policies that recognize and reward the scholarship associated with community engagement" and that "few institutions acknowledge community engagement as a priority in their search and hiring practices."
However, even though there's room for improvement, this new classification is a big step in the right direction. As Lee Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation, said, "Finding new and better ways to connect with their communities should be a high priority for higher education institutions today. The campuses participating in this elective classification provide useful models of engagement around teaching and learning and around research agendas that benefit from collaborative relationships."
We're pleased to be one of those models.