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UMM Receives National Recognition for Community Engagement

Added on: January 07, 2011

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of TeachingMACHIAS, Maine – The University of Maine at Machias has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The classification recognizes UMM for its extraordinary service-learning and community service activities.

UMM is one of only 115 institutions nationwide to receive the classification this year, and one of only two schools in Maine. Unity College also earned the classification. This year’s recipients bring the total to 311 institutions since 2006.

“We are very honored to receive this designation from the Carnegie Foundation,” said Stuart Swain, provost and vice president for academic affairs at UMM. “The classification recognizes the many collaborations and partnerships between UMM and our community. Service learning is part of our culture and has long been an important piece of the academic experience for our students and faculty.”

UMM students pitch in to winterize homes for the elderly.
UMM students help winterize homes for the elderly as part of the Keep ME Warm program.
Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification, first offered in 2006 as part of an extensive restructuring of The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Unlike the foundation’s other classifications that rely on national data, this is an “elective” classification—institutions elected to participate by submitting required documentation describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community, be it local or beyond. This approach enabled the foundation to address elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness that are not represented in the national data on colleges and universities.

“Through a classification that acknowledges significant commitment to and demonstration of community engagement, the foundation encourages colleges and universities to become more deeply engaged, to improve teaching and learning and to generate socially responsive knowledge to benefit communities,” said Carnegie President Anthony Bryk. “We are very pleased with the movement we are seeing in this direction.”

The Community Engagement Classification is a competitive application process. This year, 305 institutions registered to receive the classification application. Of those, 115 were successfully classified as community engaged institutions. Sixty-six are public institutions and 49 are private. Twenty-five are baccalaureate colleges, including UMM.

A listing of all institutions in the Community Engagement Classification can be found online at www.carnegiefoundation.org.

 


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