The University of Texas at Austin has received a 2015 Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The classification is based on a framework provided by the Carnegie Foundation to document an institution’s activities around community engagement and public service.
The university is only one of six research universities designated by Carnegie as having very high research activity to receive a first-time Community Engagement Classification this year. Overall, it is one of 83 institutions to receive the classification this year for the first time, joining 157 other universities that have been re-classified.
“The classification recognizes the university’s deep commitment to public service and engagement to enrich scholarship, research and creative activity, and enhance curriculum, teaching and learning. It also recognizes that UT Austin is dedicated to addressing critical societal issues and contributing to the public good,” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.
“The importance of this elective classification is borne out by the response of so many campuses that have demonstrated their deep engagement with local, regional, national and global communities,” said John Saltmarsh, director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, which oversees the application process as a partner of the Carnegie Foundation. “These are campuses that are improving teaching and learning, producing research that makes a difference in communities, and revitalizing their civic and academic missions.”
The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification began in 2006 and is now on a five-year application cycle. Institutions may hold the classification for 10 years, then apply for re-classification. Currently a total of 366 institutions of higher education hold the classification out of more than 3,000 institutions nationwide. Only 12 Texas institutions hold the designation, including five in the University of Texas System.
The Carnegie Foundation is an independent policy and research center that supports needed transformations in American education through tighter connections between teaching practice, evidence of student learning, the communication and use of this evidence, and structured opportunities to build knowledge.
