Institutional Commitment
"The term 'public engagement' reflects the reality that so much of what we do takes the form of faculty members collaborating with communities, agencies, and organizations to address critical issues. When our faculty, staff or students become involved in a public engagement project, they are entering into a contract, in which both they and those they engage with, have much to gain through the sharing of and creating, new knowledge to the benefit of both campus and community." Chancellor Richard Herman, September 2004
The Civic Commitment Task Force and Senate Committee on Public Engagement are charged to:
- Identify and consider problems, needs, concerns and interests of the faculty, staff and students, as they pertain to public engagement and recommend desirable changes in campus policy;
- Examine trends in public engagement here and in higher education generally and recommend appropriate changes in campus policy;
- Serve in a broad advisory capacity to the Office of Public Engagement
Task Force on Civic Commitment in the 21st Century
Appointed in 2006 by the Chancellor, the Task Force on Civic Commitment has recommended a wide range of curricular and co-curricular strategies to educate UI students to be leaders in their communities, the nation and the world. The Task Force submitted the Chancellor's Task Force for Civic Commitment in the 21st Century: Report and Recommendations to the Chancellor on July 12, 2007. Reconstituted in January 2008, the Task Force serves as an advisory committee to the Office of Public Engagement.
See the Civic Commitment Task Force final report.
Carnegie Classification
In December 2008, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the foundation’s 2008 community-engagement classification. Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification. Illinois was required to submit documentation describing the nature and extent of its community engagement, including descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.
See the Carnegie Classification report submitted by the Office of Public Engagement.
Senate Committee on Public Engagement
The Senate on the Urbana-Champaign campus is a legislative body comprised of 200 faculty and 50 students. Duties of senate committees are specified in the Senate Bylaws. Membership of the Senate Committee on Public Engagement can be viewed at http://www.senate.illinois.edu/.
A Sampling of Public Engagement Partnerships