Worcester State University has earned the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement classification for 2015, as announced recently by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the New England Resource Center for Higher Education.
The classification recognizes the broad and deep commitment the University has to engaging students in the community. Close to 2,000 Worcester State University students having worked with more than 350 partners, contributing more than 150,000 hours of service to area communities in 2013-2014.
Worcester State University is one of 83 private and public higher education institutions in the U.S. that are first-time recipients of the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement classification, and joins the ranks of other Carnegie-classified Massachusetts colleges and universities such as Northeastern, Clark, and UMass.
In order to be selected, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.
Mark Wagner, Ph.D., director of the John J. Binienda Center for Civic Engagement said, “We are honored by this designation, and it puts us in good company on a state and national level. It also gives us the opportunity to continue community-minded work at the university and build on these gains in areas of assessment and reciprocity within our partnerships.”
“As a public university in the city of Worcester, we take pride in our deep commitment to civic engagement and we value the skills that engagement brings to our students,” said President Barry M. Maloney. “We are pleased the Carnegie Foundation has recognized us with this designation. I congratulate Dr. Mark Wagner, and the many others he worked with across the campus, to submit the Carnegie application, and I applaud him for his leadership in facilitating community service, service learning and volunteer initiatives.”
The Foundation, through the work of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, developed the first typology of American colleges and universities in 1970 as a research tool to describe and represent the diversity of U.S. higher education. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education continues to be used for a wide range of purposes by academic researchers, institutional personnel, policymakers and others.
A listing of the institutions that hold the Community Engagement Classification can be found on NERCHE’s website.
Read more about how Worcester State students are active, engaged citizens in the community and around the world in our Community Impact Report.
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