Messiah College receives The Carnegie Foundation 2015 Community Engagement Classification
January 7th, 2015
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (Jan. 7, 2015) — The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected Messiah College to receive the Community Engagement Classification—one of 240 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the designation in 2015. Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification, first offered in 2006. In order to be selected, institutions had to provide detailed descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.
“In order to educate students for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation, we must prioritize the kinds of teaching and learning that engages students in the most urgent public issues of our time. This kind of scholarship not only benefits individuals professionally—it enriches our entire communities for the common good,” said Kim Phipps, president of Messiah College.
Unlike the Foundation’s other classifications that relay on national data, this is an “elective” classification—institutions participated voluntarily by submitting required materials describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community—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.
“What I like most about my job is the opportunity to witness the “ah-ha!” moment in students’ lives—that time when they realize their scholarship is so much more than a grade or GPA. It’s a privilege to be a part of this journey as they realize their scholarly work ought to be an expression of service and that it is a powerful way to affect change around them,” added Chad Frey, Director of the Agape Center for Curricular Service Learning.
The Community Engagement Classification is valid until 2025.
About The Carnegie Foundation
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is committed to developing networks of ideas, individuals and institutions to advance teaching and learning. They join together scholars, practitioners and designers in new ways to solve problems of educational practice. Toward this end, they work to integrate the discipline of improvement science into education with the goal of building the field’s capacity to improve.
About Messiah College
Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Mechanicsburg, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg.
January 7th, 2015 at 3:07 PM
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