Campus Classification, Identity, and Change: The Elective Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement

To receive the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, campuses must provide extensive documentation indicating a commitment to institutionalizing community engagement. When they do so, the Carnegie Foundation recognizes community engagement as part of the institutional identity of the campus. The Community Engagement Classification was designed to augment the basic classification (which all campuses receive) in a way that encouraged campus innovation and change. Based on our review of hundreds of applications for the classification, we propose that the Carnegie Foundation was not only encouraging campus change, but that the design of the classification suggests a theory of how institutionalization of community engagement happens. When working with campuses applying for the classification, we have found that understanding the theory of change implied by the classification has helped focus attention on the importance of locating community engagement in the core academic cultures, policies, structures, and practices of the campus.

要获得卡内基社区参与选择性分类，各院校必须提供大量文件，表明其致力于将社区参与制度化。当它们这样做时，卡内基基金会将社区参与视为院校自身特性的一部分。社区参与分类旨在以一种鼓励院校创新和变革的方式来补充基本分类（所有院校都会获得基本分类）。基于我们对数百份分类申请的审查，我们认为卡内基基金会不仅在鼓励院校变革，而且分类的设计暗示了一种社区参与制度化如何发生的理论。在与申请分类的院校合作时，我们发现理解分类所隐含的变革理论有助于将注意力集中在将社区参与置于院校核心学术文化、政策、结构和实践中的重要性上。