Carnegie Foundation Cites UMass Amherst as ‘Community-Engaged University’
Jan. 12, 2009
| Contact: | Wesley Blixt 413/545-2500 |
AMHERST, Mass. – The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named University of Massachusetts Amherst a “Community-Engaged University” under a rigorous classification process developed to document community engagement in the college curriculum, and separately in external outreach and partnerships.
The foundation, an independent policy and research center dedicated to the improvement of teaching and learning, recognized UMass Amherst for its engagement initiatives in both areas – the curriculum and the community. Among the activities highlighted in the campus’ application are a wind energy project in Hull, low-cost psychological services for the community, a program to combat obesity among teens and economic development assistance to cities and towns.
UMass Amherst joins 194 other campuses across the country that have received the classification since 2006. There are more than 4,100 degree-granting colleges and universities in the U.S.
UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub, in a letter to the campus community, called the classification a “significant honor.”
“It recognizes the many campus programs that have fostered strong relationships with external community partners to address many of the social, economic, environmental, educational and cultural needs and issues in our region, the Commonwealth, nationally and internationally,” Holub said.
The classification follows a six-month documentation and application effort by a steering committee led by University Outreach at UMass Amherst, along with members of the faculty, leaders of major campus outreach initiatives, deans and associate deans.
The application, submitted last September, documents dozens of initiatives that, in the words of the foundation, exemplify “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in the context of partnership and reciprocity.”
The Carnegie application focused, in part, on 15 major initiatives being pursued by UMass Amherst with external partners. Some of the longstanding community partnerships reviewed by the Carnegie Commission include:
• Renewable Energy Research Laboratory – Hull Wind Project has helped the Town of Hull to revamp its electricity generation by using clean, inexpensive, wind energy. This relationship has helped to build wind turbines and to maintain overwhelming popular support for the initiative. RERL is the U.S. leader in wind energy research and education. As the nation’s only institution offering master’s and doctoral-level engineering programs specializing in wind energy, UMass Amherst’s RERL draws diverse and talented students, and for more than 30 years, has trained future generations of leaders in wind engineering.
• The Psychological Services Center offers low-fee psychotherapy, psychological assessment and consultation services to members of the community; coordinates services and training opportunities among local clinicians and agencies, and provides clinical training for graduate students in clinical psychology. Psychology department partners include 30 hospitals, clinics, mental health agencies, school systems and agencies in the region.
• UMass Extension’s Tween POWER (Preventing Obesity through Wise Expenditures of Resources) partners the UMass Amherst department of nutrition and UMass Extension with public schools and Boys and Girls Clubs in five Massachusetts cities in assessing adolescent food and beverage purchasing behaviors. The information has been used to design, deliver and test an innovative dialogue-based after-school program for adolescents that is based on age-appropriate health behavior and marketing models.
• The Center for Economic Development has, for 18 years, allowed the landscape architecture and regional planning department to assist Massachusetts cities and towns in protecting and enhancing their economic base while maintaining community character.
Vice Provost for Outreach Sharon Fross, who spearheaded the application, said the partnerships outlined for the Carnegie Foundation “illustrate that community engagement does not stand apart from the core functions of the university.”
“This recognition is one step of our work,” said Fross. “Yet, now when we ask ‘What does an engaged institution look like?’ we can say, in part, it looks like UMass Amherst. Engagement helps develop mutually beneficial relationships with external partners from which unique opportunities for teaching, scholarship and public service can emerge.”
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