Duke’s Civic Engagement Efforts Recognized by Carnegie

Duke’s efforts to promote civic engagement among its students, which range from high-profile initiatives such as DukeEngage and the College Advising Corps to wide-ranging classes, organizations and programs, have been recognized by a prominent national organization that tracks civic engagement activities at colleges and universities nationwide.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has renewed Duke’s place on its list of “community engaged institutions.” It cited Duke’s “excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.”

Duke and 240 other institutions applied to receive the honor from the foundation, an independent policy and research center. Among them, 29 research universities and 83 schools overall were selected, bringing the national total to 361.

“Receiving the Carnegie classification for a second time is both an honor and an opportunity for us. The extensive reapplication allowed us not only to measure our progress over the past five years, but also to refresh the campus conversation about future directions for civic engagement at Duke,” said Elaine Madison, director of the Duke Community Service Center and associate director of DukeEngage.

Institutions participate by submitting required materials describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community. The foundation uses this approach to address “elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness” not represented in national data on colleges and universities.

“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, which administers the program with Carnegie. “These are campuses that are improving teaching and learning, producing research that makes a difference in communities and revitalizing their civic and academic missions.”