VCU news

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University has received national recognition for community engagement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

VCU is one of 240 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the foundation’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification. VCU first received the classification in 2006. Institutions originally classified in 2006 or 2008 were eligible to apply for reclassification this year.

Catherine Howard, Ph.D., vice provost of the Division of Community Engagement, said VCU is now part of an elite group of 361 colleges and universities nationwide, including six in Virginia, to earn the recognition.

“This recognition truly reflects the breadth and the depth of VCU’s commitment to community engagement,” Howard said. “In reclassifying VCU, the foundation thoroughly examined the type of research and teaching taking place here, the central focus of community engagement in VCU’s mission, the positive economic impact we make and how we are assessing the impact of our engagement efforts in the community.”

We make these commitments to our community because we understand the real value of any great university is the benefit it has in our local communities, across our region and, beyond that, for our society and global community.

Howard led the group of faculty and staff that prepared VCU’s application and supporting documentation for consideration by the Carnegie Foundation, which included a letter of support from VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D.

“We make these commitments to our community because we understand the real value of any great university is the benefit it has in our local communities, across our region and, beyond that, for our society and global community,” Rao wrote. “Our mission as a leading urban public research university is not simply to focus on our campus, but to contribute to our community and to elevate the human experience through innovation, discovery and engagement.”

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an Act of Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center whose charge is “to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education.”