Carolina Receives Recognition for Community Engagement

Posted on Dec. 11, 2006

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has classified UNC as a “community-engaged university” in recognition of Carolina’s continual collaboration with the community and its commitment to fostering community service among students, faculty and staff.

The classification, a new addition to the foundation’s approach to recognizing quality colleges and universities, “represents a significant affirmation of the importance of community engagement in the agenda of higher education,” said Alexander McCormick, director of Carnegie’s classification work.

Colleges and universities across the country sought consideration for the classification by submitting documentation describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community, the foundation said.

Institutions were classified into one of three categories: “Curricular engagement,” which entails engaging students and faculty with the community; “outreach and partnership,” which combines the application and provision of institutional resources to mutually benefit the campus and the community, such as research and economic development; and a category that combines both aspects. Carolina was one of 62 institutions in the country that met the requirements for the combined category.

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