Renewal of Carnegie Classification Renewal Spotlights Deep Commitment to Community Partnerships

In 2007, the University of Denver was among the first higher education institutions to receive the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. The elective designation is the leading st和ard for assessing a university’s commitment to community engagement. 学校 that wish to maintain this prestigious status must apply for re-classification every seven to eight years. 一月初, the American Council on Education 和 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced that DU had successfully earned its re-classification. 

The re-classification, which DU also achieved in 2015, is hardly pro forma. 学校 must undertake a rigorous self-study to demonstrate that they have advanced their commitment to fostering community partnerships that are

互惠互利的. “Something to be proud of at DU is that this kind of community-engaged research, 教学和创造性工作在整个大学里随处可见,安妮·德普林斯说, 负责公益战略和研究的副教务长.

The working group that led the re-classification effort documented ample evidence to support DU’s st和ing as an exemplar of a private institution whose research benefits the public good. 德普林斯说:“这是杜里大学故事中非常重要的一部分。. “Community engagement is a method that faculty are using in their scholarship 和 their teaching across disciplines. When universities work on problems with community partnership 和 expertise, we have a chance to improve underst和ing of issues 和 arrive at a better set of solutions together.”

社区参与中心促进奖学金 & Learning (CCESL) is at the heart of DU’s robust efforts to institutionalize community engagement. 在它的众多功能中, CCESL trains faculty 和 工作人员 on the best practices for building local partnerships 和 offers programming that prepares graduate 和 undergraduate students to become agents of collaborative change within their communities. 它还为教师提供资金, 工作人员, 和 students to carry out collaborative projects with community partners.

“We typically serve every academic unit on campus in one way or another,卡拉·迪诺说, CCESL执行主任. 通过Scholar Shop和DU Gr和 Challenges等项目, CCESL has helped build 和 scale a community engagement infrastructure that has increased opportunities for DU researchers 和 students to partner with local agencies 和 organizations.

One example of the many collaborations that contributed to DU’s Carnegie Classification is the work of Cheri Young, 丹尼尔斯商学院的副教授. 她帮助获得了50多万美元的赠款，以支持一家合伙企业

between students in her Human Capital course 和 the Ethiopian Community Development Council/African Community Center, 难民安置机构. Young’s community-engaged scholarship of teaching 和 learning, which was recognized by the U.S. 国务院，一直是至关重要的发展 准备参加美国酒店项目. 这个项目, which pairs students from the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management with refugees in an immersive, 服务培训课程, highlights the 互惠互利的 nature of such collaborative projects.

“社区参与是一种高影响力的做法，”德普林斯说. “When you look at the complicated public problems that our community is grappling with, 或者我们的州或国家, these are problems that aren’t easily solved by one perspective or another.”

A distinguishing aspect of DU’s approach to community engagement is that community partners often serve as co-educators in the classroom. Students learn from these passionate 和 experienced individuals alongside DU’s world-class faculty 和 工作人员. All parties work together to develop innovative solutions to pressing problems.

“That’s the beauty of it—not knowing what’s possible until you have a conversation between academic folks 和 community folks,DiEnno说. “The kinds of projects that ultimately get pursued are greater than if one person was sitting in an office thinking about them.”

1月. 29, the Office for Public Good Strategy 和 研究 will host its second annual 公益庆典. 事件, 会在社区公共场所四楼举行吗, will celebrate the Carnegie Classification along with the many collaborations between DU 和 community partners that have advanced the public good.