One of only 27 baccalaureate colleges in nation listed

January 6, 2011

St. Paul, Minn. – The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected Macalester College for its 2010 Community Engagement Classification. The classification was awarded after an extensive review of the college’s community engagement locally, nationally and globally. Macalester is one of only 27 baccalaureate colleges nationally to have achieved the classification since it began in 2006. Since that time, a total of 311 colleges and universities have received the classification.

“The Carnegie Foundation has acknowledged Macalester’s deep and significant commitment to, and demonstration of, civic engagement and we are honored to be recognized in this way,” said President Brian Rosenberg. “Academic rigor combined with a vibrant community involved in public scholarship and civic learning, and encouraging students to think creatively and discover the meaning and relevance of their studies outside the classroom, are hallmarks of a Macalester education.”

More than 90 percent of Macalester students participate in some form of community-based work before they graduate. Each year, more than 250 students earn academic credit for supervised internships with local, national, and international businesses and organizations. Academic concentrations in Global Citizenship, Human Rights and Humanitarianism, Urban Studies, and Global and Community Health enable students to integrate effective citizen-leader skills with their individual academic and career goals.

Through the Civic Engagement Center, housed within the Institute for Global Citizenship, Macalester encourages faculty and students to partner with community organizations as part of course curriculum and through co-curricular student engagement programs. Through these programs, students work with faculty members and community organizations to develop research projects, collect and analyze data, and share their results and conclusions. Research projects are driven by the work of the community-based organization and are academically related to the class material. Not only does the community benefit, but students also greatly enhance their understanding of the subject matter.

Courses that include a community-based component include:

  • Immunology
  • Economics of Poverty
  • Urban Social Geography
  • Environmental Studies Leadership Practicum
  • Science and Citizenship
  • Community-Based Theater
  • Introduction to US Latino Studies
  • Public History
  • Re-Envisioning Education and Democracy
  • Legislative Politics

Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification. Unlike the Foundation’s other classifications that rely on national data, this is an “elective” classification—institutions elect to participate by submitting required documentation describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community. This approach enables the Carnegie Foundation to address elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness that are not represented in the national data on colleges and universities.

To be selected, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.

This year, 154 institutions applied to document community engagement and 115 were successfully classified as community engaged institutions. A listing of the institutions in the Community Engagement Classification can be found at carnegiefoundation.org.

To learn more about civic engagement at Macalester, visit the Institute for Global Citizenship and the Civic Engagement Center.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,987 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism and civic engagement. For more information, visit macalester.edu.

January 6 2011

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