Release date: Dec. 6, 2006
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

Emory Recognized for Community Engagement by Carnegie Foundation

Emory student Allison Ball (far right) helps Abang Paul from Sudan learn English at Dekalb Tech.

Emory University's commitment to teaching, research and community service has earned recognition from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which named Emory one of the first schools in the country to receive the foundation's new "Community Engagement" designation. Emory was one of only 76 institutions to receive this endorsement, which was announced Dec. 5.

As an "Engaged Institution," Emory was noted by Carnegie for demonstrating "excellent alignment between mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement." Emory also was one of the 62 institutions that earned the distinction in both possible categories: curricular engagement and outreach and partnerships.

"This designation by the Carnegie Foundation wonderfully recognizes not only the superb leadership that many people at Emory University have contributed over the years in engaging our students and our wider communities," says Emory President James Wagner. "It also ratifies the decision by our faculty and administrative colleagues to make community engagement an important component of our strategic plan. We intend to be an engaged and committed community of scholars for a long time to come."

The Carnegie endorsement comes at the same time that investment from Emory's strategic plan fund – plus the university's commitment to raise $10 million more over the next five years – augments and expands the activities and scholarship sponsored by Emory's Office of University-Community Partnerships. The nationally distinguished office has sent Emory students and faculty into Atlanta neighborhoods to mentor middle school girls, help elderly immigrants study for their U.S. citizenship exams and work on tangible solutions to real-world issues such as affordable housing, AIDS and education.

“For years Emory faculty and students have been working quietly to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods all over metro Atlanta and in communities all over the world,” says Michael J. Rich, director of OUCP and associate professor of political science. “Emory has engaged faculty and students in a wide range of mutually beneficial, community-based service and research projects because we believe not only that students learn more when they are directly engaged in solving real-world problems, but perhaps more importantly, that our vast intellectual and human resources must be harnessed for the greater common good -starting right here in metro Atlanta.”

The strategic investment from the university will help OUCP, which was founded five years ago, more fully tap the enormous potential for engaged scholarship and learning at Emory -- particularly in its graduate and professional schools -- and in the Atlanta community. The money also supports successful initiatives such as SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), the Northwest Atlanta Community Outreach Partnership Center, and the Community Partnership Faculty Fellows program, which helps faculty learn about the pedagogy of community-based learning and research.

A successful centerpiece of OUCP is the Emory Community Building Fellows Program, now entering its fifth year and a national model for engaged learning programs. The fellowship provides undergraduate students an intensive year of training, research and experience, including a summer-long practicum working on community initiatives in metro Atlanta.

Results of the fellows' work so far include the completion of 17 projects that have produced policy change and new programs and entities like the Northwest Atlanta Community Outreach Partnership Center, which engages various Emory departments in work to improve the quality of life along the Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway corridor. They also have expanded the capacity of existing community initiatives to effectively address issues such as HIV/AIDS, affordable housing, public education quality, urban sprawl, citizen engagement and more. The new class of fellows will be announced in mid-December.

"My lasting hope," says Rich, "is that our students use these opportunities to acquire the knowledge and tools needed to foster collaborative, cross-sector initiatives that address important public issues. In the future that expertise is likely to be the essential ingredient that distinguishes leaders who make a difference in their communities."

Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a primary mission "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education." The improvement of teaching and learning is central to all of the work of the Foundation.

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