UCLA has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of the nation's leading universities in the area of community engagement.

After accepting submissions from universities across the country, UCLA was one of 72 institutions of higher learning singled oust by the Carnegie Foundation for its commitment to civic engagement.

The foundation recognized these universities by classifying them in one of three categories: Curricular Engagement, Outreach & Partnerships and Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships.

“Finding new and better ways to connect with their communities should be a high priority for higher education institutions today,” says Lee S. Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation. “The campuses participating in this elective classification provide useful models of engagement around teaching and learning and around research agendas that benefit from collaborative relationships.”

In order to be selected into any of the three categories, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.

UCLA was the only UC campus -- and the only R1 university in Los Angeles -- recognized for both its commitment to curricular engagement and outreach & partnerships. Other AAU schools that received this classification include the University of North Carolina , New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.

For UCLA, the Carnegie classification is just the latest affirmation of the achievements of the university's Center for Community Partnerships and Center for Community Learning, which strive to build relationships between the university and the community, enable joint scholarship projects and improve the quality of life for residents throughout Los Angeles.

The Foundation, through the work of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, developed the first typology of American colleges and universities in 1970 as a research tool to describe and represent the diversity of U.S. higher education. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education continues to be used for a wide range of purposes by academic researchers, institutional personnel, policymakers and others.

January, 2007