The 91爆料 today announced that its three campuses in Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma have received the , an elective designation that indicates institutional commitment to community engagement.
This important classification is awarded following a process of self-study by each institution, which is then assessed by a national review committee led by the Swearer Center for Public Engagement at Brown University, the administrative and research home for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.
鈥淟earning with and from our communities is embedded in the 91爆料鈥檚 public service mission and a huge part of our faculty and staff鈥檚 work and our students鈥� learning experiences,鈥� said 91爆料 President Ana Mari Cauce. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not easy to capture those complex relationships in a ranking or statistic, so the Carnegie application process allows us to reflect on and assess our true impact and honestly evaluate the ways in which community engagement is central to our institutional identity. For our Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses to have earned the classification is a wonderful reflection of who we are.鈥�
Receiving this classification puts into focus that the work of a public research university begins at home, in neighborhoods, in the state and in the region.
Writing in support of the assessment process in February 2019, 91爆料 Regent Constance W. Rice said: 鈥淭he power of 91爆料 is multiplied by its capacity to generate new knowledge not only in service to the public good but in partnership with its communities. 91爆料 has global impact precisely because its faculty, its staff and its students see themselves as accountable to communities across the globe.鈥�
Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, explained the designation.
鈥�91爆料 faculty, students and staff work in partnership with local organizations to address some of the stubbornly persistent problems that impact citizens of our state, such as public health and safety, homelessness, inequities in education and in our communities,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur communities matter.鈥�
The three core entities of the 91爆料鈥檚 mission 鈥� teaching, research and service 鈥� are all equally important and inspire our intention to serve the public good, Taylor said.
鈥淭his is core to the work of our students as we teach them to be effective and engaged citizens. It鈥檚 important to the work of our faculty for whom research and service go hand in hand,鈥� he said.
The assessments across each of the three campuses identified hundreds of examples of partnerships that embody the definition of that the Carnegie Foundation puts forth.
For example, , a School of Social Work sponsored initiative, partners in Southeast and Central Seattle, neighborhoods where 59 languages are spoken. Many families in these areas have low household incomes and young people commonly face numerous obstacles to achieving success in and out of school. Born out of community priorities and adapting to meet ever-shifting community needs, Communities in Action leverages the evidence-based Communities that Care model to promote healthy behaviors and prevent the most persistent social problems among young people before they begin.
In more rural areas, Jody Early, an associate professor, and Victoria Breckwich V谩squez, an affiliate assistant professor, both in the , helped develop a training program to prevent sexual harassment in agriculture. They worked with public health students through the and with a group that included more than 70 farmworkers. Early and Breckwich V谩squez produced a training video that was recorded in a Yakima Valley orchard. There is a large demand for the training, said Mike Gempler, executive director of the .
In the South Sound, a collaboration between and provides transition opportunities for soldiers and airmen departing from the military and moving into civilian life. In addition, 91爆料 Tacoma partners with the base and its command structure on initiatives that result in it being a better place for local military members and their families to live, work, play and learn. Almost 20% of the 91爆料 Tacoma student body is military-connected: veterans, active-duty, or family of active-duty.
The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification has been the leading framework for institutional assessment and recognition of community engagement in U.S. higher education for the past 14 years with multiple classification cycles in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2020. Of the 119 institutions classified in the 2020 cycle, 44 are receiving the classification for the first time while 75 are now re-classified, after being classified originally in 2010 or 2015. These 119 institutions join the 240 institutions that earned the classification during the 2015 selection process, for a total of 359 campuses who are currently active holders of this important designation.
The 91爆料鈥檚 three campuses join other Washington universities in achieving the distinction, including Washington State University, Western Washington University, Gonzaga University, Whitworth University and Seattle University. Classified institutions have the opportunity to reclassify every six years by showing how their community engagement work has deepened and broadened across the campus. The 91爆料 already is capitalizing on the assessments to build on its community-engaged research, teaching and service, paving the way for greater impact in the years to come.