In January 2024, the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), along with University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) and University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR), was awarded the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement. The classification recognizes institutions of higher education that are "aligned among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement."
Of the nearly 4,000 institutions of higher education in the U.S., this prestigious designation has been granted to only 368 institutions—among them, the University of Minnesota Morris in 2015 and University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2006 and again in 2015. The addition of UMD, UMC, and UMR makes the University of Minnesota the country's first and only system of higher education to receive the designation.
Administered by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the classification requires evidence-based documentation of institutional policies and practices that support scholarly community engagement, focusing on areas such as institutional culture and mission, curricular and co-curricular programming, the recruitment and reward of faculty, staff, and students, and continuous improvement activities.
Robust public engagement and reciprocal, mutually beneficial university-community partnerships are increasingly recognized as critical to the University's teaching, research, and outreach missions, as well as to students, scholars, legislators, funders, and Minnesotans in general. UMD Engage is committed to promoting, supporting, and advancing the public engagement embraced by the University's administrators, faculty, staff, students, and community partners.
