Temple’s integration of community needs and curriculum receive classification.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recently recognized Temple, among another 115 colleges, in its 2010 Community Engagement Classification.
The classification required institutions to provide descriptions and examples of community engagement practices that “showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices,” according to the foundation’s website.Community engagement was not limited to a university’s collaboration with its immediate community, but could include its regional, state, national or international communities.
The CFAT describes engagement as the “mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.”
Three-hundred and five institutions initially registered, according to the website, but due to a lack of readiness with the requirements, 151 schools withdrew their applications before the Sept. 1 deadline.
Of the remaining 154 schools that applied, Temple was among the 115 to make the cut, earning the title with seven other Pennsylvania colleges, including St. Joseph’s and La Salle universities. These 115 schools joined the already-selected 196 schools that were selected in 2006 and 2008.
“Temple’s designation as a community engaged institution will distinguish the institution as a place where knowledge [is] transformed into action; action that contributes to the creation and sustenance of communities where people want to live, work and raise their families,” said Michael Norton, the assistant director of the Community Leaning Network, in an e-mail statement. The CLN helped apply for the university’s classification.
Norton said while there is no single program or initiative that makes Temple a community-engaged institution, programs, such as the Philadelphia Experience integration into the general education program, were used when explaining the university in the application’s “curricular engagement” portion. Along with this, universities had to discuss “outreach and partnerships.”
The next chance for universities to earn a spot under this classification will be in 2015, when previously-inducted schools such as Temple will have to re-apply to retain the classification.
Angelo Fichera can be reached at afichera@temple.edu.
Be the first to comment