"UNC should become more directly engaged with and connected to the people of North Carolina, its regions, and our state as a whole."
- UNC Tomorrow Commission Final Report and Recommendations, Sec. 4.7
HOW UNC IS RESPONDING > > >
At General Administration:
Nationally Recognized Community Engagement - In 2006, the Carnegie Foundation named the first set of 76 Community Engaged institutions, and announced the second set last year. The designation recognizes universities with outstanding strategies for engagement through both academic programs and direct community service. Among those campuses being awarded this designation, ten are UNC institutions, giving North Carolina the distinction of having more public universities with this designation than any other state. All ten campuses met earlier this winter to determine how they can collaborate to share lessons learned through the process and improve engagement efforts. Additionally, all UNC campuses have increased engagement activity since the release of the UNC Tomorrow report, and Courtney Thornton and Leslie Boney continue to facilitate system-wide discussions on engagement.
On UNC's Campuses:
- UNC Chapel Hill’s Community-Campus Partnership (CCP): CCPT is a program that will forge comprehensive and integrated partnerships with underserved communities in North Carolina to build their capacity and address their needs. UNC-CH has put together a steering committee, evaluated the conditions in a number of counties, and is identifying the economically distressed counties that will serve as pilots. Once the counties have been identified, UNC-CH will work collaboratively with the community to identify strengths and gaps, map out strategies, identify additional institutional and community partners, develop innovative solutions, and leverage expertise to address them. CCPT will facilitate a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of each county, identifying and applying expertise from UNC CH and other UNC and community partners.
- Faculty Engaged Scholars Program: This is an important new initiative at UNC-CH designed to advance faculty involvement in the scholarship of engagement by guiding and supporting them to apply their expertise in addressing important community issues. Faculty scholars interact with their peers from different academic disciplines and receive support and mentoring from a diverse group of experienced faculty and community partners. One goal of this program is to develop a growing and supportive cohort of engaged faculty at UNC-CH. The program has received national attention as a model for developing scholarly work that directly impacts communities.
Check back here for more "In The Spotlight" features on how UNC's campuses and faculty are responding to the needs of North Carolina through teaching, research and scholarship, and public service.