Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement

The Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement

The Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement is a voluntary designation recognizing institutions that have truly embedded community engagement into their mission, culture and operations. Unlike accreditation or rankings, this is an elective classification, meaning institutions choose to pursue it as a demonstration of their commitment to the communities they serve.

Within Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement framework, institutions describe collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good. 

Defining Community Engagement

Community engagement describes collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.

What are the Carnegie Elective Classifications?

The Carnegie Foundation's Elective Classifications require institutions to undergo a rigorous process of self-study from which they provide evidence of their institutional indicators including: assessment of student learning, curricular and co-curricular offerings, faculty and staff rewards and contributions, mission statements, strategic plans, etc. Institutions that demonstrate, through the evidence they provide, an extraordinary institutional commitment, receive the Carnegie Foundation's endorsement as a Classified Institution.