FranU Receives 2020 Community Engagement Classification

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Baton Rouge, LA) – The Carnegie Foundation has announced that Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (FranU) is one of the 119 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, an elective designation that indicates institutional commitment to community engagement.

This important classification is awarded following a process of self-study by each institution, which is then assessed by a national review committee led by the Swearer Center for Public Engagement at Brown University, the administrative and research home for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

“These newly-classified and re-classified institutions are doing exceptional work to forward their public purpose in and through community engagement that enriches teaching and research while also benefitting the broader community,” noted Matthew Johnson, executive director of the Swearer Center.

“To receive the heralded Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is a tremendous honor and a well-deserved recognition. This designation places FranU among a very small group of colleges and universities nation-wide who understand that our institutions are integral to the communities we serve. For FranU, community engagement is an essential aspect of our Franciscan mission to educate and form servant leaders,” stated Tina Holland, Ph.D, President of Franciscan Missionaries of our Lady University.

Of the 119 institutions classified in the 2020 cycle, 44 are receiving the classification for the first time while 75 are now re-classified, after being classified originally in 2010 or 2015. These 119 institutions join the 240 institutions that earned the classification during the 2015 selection process, for a total of 359 campuses who are active holders of this important designation. Among the 2020 recipients of the classification, 67 are public institutions and 52 are private. For Carnegie’s Basic Classification, 52 are classified as research universities, 39 are master’s colleges and universities, 22 are baccalaureate colleges, 3 are community colleges, and 3 institutions have a specialized focus-arts, medicine, and other health professions. They represent campuses in 37 states and U.S. territories.

The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification has been the leading framework for institutional assessment and recognition of community engagement in U.S. higher education for the past 14 years with multiple classification cycles in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2020.

The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification represents a significant part of the university’s purpose to not only educate but to significantly impact the surrounding community. “Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (FranU) has a tradition of service and a strong commitment to community-engaged learning that promotes student success. The mission of FranU emphasizes the importance of student formation and developing servant leaders of all faiths, committed to serving the most vulnerable in our community. The 2020 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification highlights our commitment to serving the community and living our mission as a Franciscan University “stated Dr. Rhoda Reddix, Associate Professor, Director, Service-Learning.

ABOUT THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING:

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching aims to build a field around the use of improvement science and networked improved communities to solve long standing inequities in educational outcomes. The Foundation, through the work of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, developed the first typology of American colleges and universities in 1970 as a research tool to describe and represent the diversity of U.S. higher education. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (now housed at Indiana University Bloomington’s Center for Post-Secondary Research) continues to be used for a wide range of purposes by academic researchers, institutional personnel, policymakers and others. For more information, visit www.carnegiefoundation.org/.

ABOUT THE SWEARER CENTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE:

In 1986, Brown University President Howard Swearer founded one of the first public service centers in the nation now named for him- the Swearer Center for Public Service. The Swearer Center is a hub of community, scholarship, and action at Brown University. Through innovative programs and fellowships that reach across Rhode Island and around the globe, the Swearer Center connects people to co-create knowledge and positive social change, advances the field of engaged scholarship, and integrates social innovation with community engagement. In 2017, the Swearer Center became the administrative and research home of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. For more information, visit www.swearer.brown.edu.

ABOUT FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES OF OUR LADY UNIVERSITY:

As a premier Catholic institution in the Southeast, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, formerly Our Lady of the Lake College, provides dedicated students a rigorous and formative education that prepares them to be highly skilled professionals, integrated thinkers and faith-filled citizens. The University was founded in 1923 by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady (FMOL) and is faithful to its mission grounded in Franciscan values. Accredited to offer doctorate, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees, the University has an enrollment of approximately 1400 students and offers degrees in nursing, health sciences, humanities, behavioral and natural sciences.

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