Press release from Warren Wilson College:
Warren Wilson College has joined a select group of U.S. colleges and universities in receiving the Classification for Community Engagement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Warren Wilson is among 17 baccalaureate colleges nationwide to receive the classification in 2015 for the first time.
Warren Wilson has long placed a heavy emphasis on community engagement, evident in part by its adoption of a service graduation requirement more than half a century ago. Today the college’s approximately 820 students engage in more than 50,000 hours of service to community annually, including outreach that is integrated into Warren Wilson’s academic offerings. Students currently fulfill a Community Engagement Commitment as a graduation requirement through progressively deeper engagements with social/environmental issues and nonprofit organizations.
In addition to the Carnegie classification, Warren Wilson recently was named to the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction.
“Community engagement is aligned with the mission of Warren Wilson College,” WWC Dean of Service Cathy Kramer said in noting the classification’s significance. “It permeates the culture of the place – service is institutionalized as part of what we do. And we continue working to increase that depth of engagement.”
Warren Wilson College works with scores of local partners such as Homeward Bound, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Asheville GreenWorks, MANNA FoodBank and Asheville City Schools Foundation. Warren Wilson students mentor children, work in gardens, build and insulate homes, maintain natural habitats and contribute to the community in many other ways as they benefit from learning from members of our community. Although the vast majority of service hours are local, Warren Wilson also sponsors break trips to other parts of the country and students often do service internationally while studying abroad.
A Carnegie Foundation news release notes that “unlike the Carnegie Foundation’s other [higher education] classifications that rely on national data, this is an ‘elective’ classification – institutions participated voluntarily by submitting required materials describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community, be it local or beyond.” In order to be classified, institutions were required to provide evidence in two categories: Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships.
The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources
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