Interested in Applying for the Carnegie Classification on Community Engagement?

What is it?

The Community Engagement Classification recognizes higher education’s commitment to community engagement. Drawing its criteria heavily from Campus Compact’s Indicators of Engagement Project, the new classification reaffirms institutional commitment to deepen the practice of service and to further strengthen bonds between campus and community.

Top 5 Reasons to Apply

• Legitimacy: If your campus has made a commitment to community engagement, the classification, with the Carnegie Foundation’s credibility, provides you with a new level of legitimacy and public recognition and visibility for your work. 
  
• Accountability: The classification is one way to demonstrate that the institution is fulfilling its mission to serve the public good – and this is applicable across all institutional types with added importance for public, state colleges and universities. It can serve as a political device to justify activities to external stakeholders.
  
• It can also serve as a Catalyst for Change: The classification provides a tool for fostering institutional alignment for community-based teaching, learning and scholarship – it can be a catalyst for efforts to improve teaching and learning through curricular connection to community-based public problem solving (through experiential, collaborative, active, and problem-based learning).
  
• It also proclaims the Institutional Identity: The classification is a way to clarify institutional identity and claim or reclaim a specific mission that distinguishes the institution from peers and establishes a specific competitive, market niche.
  
• The application process provides an opportunity for Institutional Self Assessment: The indicators of community engagement provide a way to bring the disparate parts of the campus together in way that advances a unified agenda. At the same time it allows for the identification of promising practices that can be shared across the institution.

---

Opportunities to learn More 

Carnegie Classification Virtual Learning Community
For those actively pursuing the Carnegie Classification, this moderated virtual learning community will be available to all Campus Compact members seeking (re)classification for the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Classification on Community Engagement.  During the application process, members will receive support from experts in the field who will be moderating the community as well as from one other.

This online platform will allow Campus Compact members the opportunity to participate in a moderated peer learning community with similar institutions and experts in the field. Members can share information, ask questions and learn from each other. The Virtual Learning Community will be a place where members can receive feedback on specific topics and share resources with other members. Campus Compact and its experts will be active in the virtual learning community and will respond to and address key challenges as they arise.

The learning community will operate from September 2013 – April 2014. Registration is free for all members and will open Summer 2013. Stay tuned for more information!

The Engaged Campus: Preparing for the 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification
In this pre-recorded discussion, panelists share information about the 2015 application cycle for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Elective Community Engagement Classification.  Presenters discuss ways the Classification advances institutional engagement and offer “on the ground” perspective from two- and four-year institutions.  Presenters include Dr. John Saltmarsh, Co-Director, New England Resource Center for Higher Education and Ms. Gail Robinson, Director of Service-Learning, American Association of Community Colleges. To listen to the discussion, please go here. Carnegie Community Engagement Classification: