OSU receives Carnegie Foundation classification

Thursday, January 11, 2007

OSU is one of 76 schools in the nation selected for a new Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“This designation reaffirms the university’s commitment to having a significant impact through our work in outreach and partnerships with communities throughout the state,” said OSU Vice President for Student Affairs Lee Bird.
OSU System CEO and President David Schmidly said, “I want to commend Dr. Bird and her staff for recognizing the importance of a distinction like this one from the Carnegie Foundation and working toward the classification.”

“As a land grant institution, a large part of the OSU mission is to stay engaged with communities across the state of Oklahoma and continue creating partnerships that will have a positive impact on the citizens of Oklahoma both economically, and socially,” Schmidly said.

The Carnegie 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 is used for a wide range of purposes by academic researchers, institutional personnel, policymakers and others.

The Community Engagement Classification was developed as part of an extensive overhaul of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education that began in 2006. Unlike the foundation’s other classifications that rely on national data, it is an “elective” classification; institutions participate by submitting required documentation on the nature and extent of their civic engagement, outreach and partnerships regionally, nationally and internationally.

The approach enabled the foundation to address elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness that are not represented in the national data on colleges and universities.

“The Community Engagement Classification is an exciting move in Carnegie’s work to extend and refine the classification of colleges and universities,” said Alexander McCormick, who directs the Carnegie Foundation’s classification work. “It represents a significant affirmation of the importance of community engagement in the agenda of higher education.”