UD, WSU recognized for engagement

Partnerships improve learning and quality of life for residents.

The schools received the 2015 Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,

Both the University of Dayton and Wright State University have been recognized nationally for programs that foster community-engaged learning and improve the quality of life for citizens.

On Wednesday, the schools received the 2015 Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The classification recognizes institutional efforts to engage students and faculty with the community through partnerships in teaching, service and research.

“We honestly believe the distinctive institutions of the future are going to be really well organized in community engagement and community-engaged learning. Not just for the sake of being a good community partner, but students learn a lot better when they can connect with the community in all the different fields and majors and interests they have,” said Paul Vanderburgh, UD associate provost and chairman of the task force that put together the school’s application.

Wright State and UD are among 83 U.S. colleges and universities receiving the designation for the first time this year, bringing the total to 361.

“This designation is recognition of the exemplary ways in which faculty, students and staff achieve a critical part of the mission of a modern public university — to transform the communities that we serve,” said Kimberly Barrett, Wright State’s vice president for multicultural affairs and community engagement.

The universities’ outreach extends to the region and overseas in areas of health care, environmental sustainability advocacy and remediation, community and economic development, arts and cul-

tural programming, and research in areas such as human rights and neighborhood stabilization.

Wright State and UD both cited partnerships with Dayton Public Schools in applications for the classification.

Wright State students provide more than 6,000 hours of tutoring each year; UD maintains a partnership with the district and the Dayton Foundation to operate the Neighborhood Schools Center.

Wright State’s application noted the thousands of clinical hours School of Professional Psychology students provide to underserved populations in the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus areas.

“This acknowledges our commitment to serving others that is embedded in the very heart and soul of this institution,” said Wright State President David R. Hopkins. “It’s the very fabric of who we are.”

Recent partnerships with businesses like GE Aviation and Emerson Climate Technologies on new on-campus research facilities are also among the initiatives positioning UD students and researchers to become more actively engaged with diverse stakeholders, Vanderburgh said.

“Active engagement in the local community is a central part of the Marianist tradition,” said UD President Daniel J. Curran. “We are honored with this designation, which is an affirmation of our long-term efforts to put into action the Marianist spirit of social justice, peace and commitment to community.”

The application process also made UD rethink factors going into faculty promotions, often weighted heavily toward research and publishing success, Vanderburgh said.

“Community engagement in many cases is not viewed in the same way, the same level as publication and scholarship,” he said. We’d like to see community engagement ... recognized in the promotion for faculty members. It would be a game-changer for us in getting more faculty interested in community-engaged learning.”