The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
recently awarded Salt Lake Community College its 2015 Community Engagement
Classification.
Two- and four-year colleges and universities with a focus on
community engagement were invited to apply for the classification, which the
Carnegie Foundation began offering it in 2006. Applicants were asked to
describe the nature and extent of their engagement with the community and to provide
descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of engagement that
“showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.”
“The designation is an affirmation of our historic and
deeply-held commitment to serving our community, helping us teach and advance
knowledge while advancing the well being of others outside of the college,”
said Jennifer Seltzer-Stitt, SLCC director of Community Relations. “Receiving
this designation brings national recognition to our campus and places SLCC
among an elite group of institutions, with only four community colleges
receiving the classification for 2015.”
SLCC engages the
community it serves in a variety of ways, including through its Thayne Center
for Service & Learning, Community Writing Center, Miller Business Resource
Center, on-campus programs to engage young people in science, technology,
engineering, and math, Grand Theatre cultural events and youth programs, on- and
off-campus programming for local K-12 students, and through many arts and
cultural events. An example is SLCC’s popular Know Greater Heroes leadership
program that twice a week connects athletes as positive role models with
surrounding schools, reaching approximately 25,000 elementary students, 1,700
educators and more than 54,000 parents each year.
“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. “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 classification lasts ten years, after which time
institutions can reapply. A full list of institutions that received the 2015
classification can be found on the Carnegie Foundation’s website.
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