What is Engagement 

Academic Engagement

Curricular Engagement describes the teaching, learning, and scholarship that engages faculty, students, and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration. Their interactions address community identified needs, deepen students civic and academic learning, enhance community well-being, and enrich the scholarship of the institution. Engaged curriculum encompasses three types of engagement- student, academic, and community.

Community Engagement

Community engagement describes collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.

UVU's Carnegie Designation

Utah Valley University was one of the first universities in Utah to receive an Elective Community Engagement designation from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2008). As recipient of the designation, Utah Valley University has demonstrated commitment to community engagement and has worked diligently to develop organizational structures, policies, and programming that facilitate student, faculty, and staff involvement in the community. In 2015, Utah Valley University received this designation for a second time, one of 361 colleges and universities who have been given the designation.



The Carnegie Foundation stated the following in regard to Utah Valley University's reclassification, "Your application documented excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement, and it responded to the classification framework with both descriptions and examples of exemplary institutionalized practices of community engagement. The application also documented evidence of community engagement in a coherent and compelling response to the framework’s inquiry."

To learn more about the Carnegie Foundation Elective Community Engagement Classification, click here.