Defiance College Receives
Community Engagement Classification

Defiance College is one of 119 U.S. colleges and universities selected by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. The classification provides a way for institutions to describe their identity and commitment to the community with a public and nationally recognized classification.

“We are delighted and honored that the Foundation has recognized Defiance College for the Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships classification on its most recent selection process, ” said Dr. Charles Warren, interim president. “Our faculty, student and staff colleagues work creatively and successfully to carefully integrate academic, cultural and civic engagement in the service of our campus and broader communities.”

Institutions chosen to receive the classification were placed into one of three categories:

Curricular Engagement – describes teaching, learning and scholarship which engage faculty, students and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration. Their interactions address community-identified needs, deepen students’ civic and academic learning, enhance community well-being and enrich the scholarship of the institution.

Outreach & Partnerships – describes two different but related approaches to community engagement. The first focuses on the application and provision of institutional resources for community use with benefits to both campus and community. The latter focuses on collaborative interactions with community and related scholarship for the mutually beneficial exchange, exploration and application of knowledge, information and resources (research, capacity building, economic development, etc).

Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships – describes institutions with substantial commitments in both areas.

Defiance College was classified in the Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnership classification.

Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification. In order to be selected into any of the three categories, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center that classifies universities and colleges for research purposes. It defines community engagement as the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The Community Engagement classification, released in 2006, gives institutions another way to differentiate themselves within the research parameters and relative to other colleges and universities. The new classification is elective, allowing institutions to choose to participate by completing an application.

Defiance College is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate majors as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of engagement. U. S. News & World Report ranks Defiance in the top tier of comprehensive colleges in the Midwest. The college website is www.defiance.edu.

December 23, 2008