NYU has been awarded the prestigious Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in recognition of the strong role civic engagement plays in university life.
Recognizes University’s Strong Civic Engagement Programs
NYU has been awarded the prestigious Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in recognition of the strong role civic engagement plays in university life. NYU is one of 361 colleges and universities to be cited by the foundation. NYU’s community engagement initiatives were also cited by the Carnegie Foundation in 2006 and this year’s award is considered a “re-classification” or renewal of that award.
“This important award recognizes NYU’s deep engagement in the community in which it lives and reinforces our motto: ‘A private university in the public service,’” said Lynne Brown, senior vice president for university relations and public affairs. “Through participation in programs like America Reads/America Counts—the largest in the nation, our relief efforts following Superstorm Sandy, and the countless hours of community service provided by members of the NYU community, the University demonstrates every day and in manifold ways its strong commitment to helping our neighbors and serving the community around us—both here in New York City and at our academic sites around the world.”
Last year, NYU also received the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The Honor Roll is part of the CNCS’s strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities. For this distinction, NYU demonstrated its deep commitment to service and outreach through a vast array of annual service and outreach projects. This is the sixth time NYU has received the Honor Roll with Distinction since 2006.
The Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification is awarded to institutions that have a strong focus on community engagement. The purpose of the award is to promote and encourage partnerships between universities and their communities in order to enrich scholarship and research, strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility, and contribute to the public good.
In making its award, the foundation told NYU, “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 [foundation’s] classification framework with both descriptions and examples of exemplary institutionalized practices of community engagement.”
NYU was invited to seek reclassification of its 2006 award based on its strong engagement with both the New York City community and the overseas communities at its global sites. In its application, prepared by the University’s Office of Civic Engagement, NYU was able to demonstrate how the University has strengthened the scope and scale of its community engagement since 2006. It noted that every school in the University—including the Polytechnic School of Engineering, which merged with NYU in 2014—participates in community engagement activities.
For example, last year:
• More than 13,000 NYU students performed over 1.3 million hours of service;
• 9,000 students participated in 753 service learning and service related courses;
• NYU celebrated its 18th year as the largest America Reads/America Counts program in the country – with 800 students providing 10 to 12 hours of weekly tutoring in 70 NYC public schools;
• Across the University, NYU allocated more than $24.3 million of its own resources toward institutional community engagement;
• Another $14.6 million in external budget allocations, such as grant funds, were dedicated to service related projects;
• NYU committed 21 percent of its total Federal Work Study allotment to community service jobs, three times the statutory requirement of 7 percent;
• The NYU community also contributed more than 3,000 hours of service to relief efforts following Superstorm Sandy in 2012—work that continues to this day.
“NYU students, faculty, and staff are now serving communities in New York City and around the world in unprecedented numbers,” said Bill Pfeiffer, director of the Office of Civic Engagement. “The University’s network of ties to its surrounding neighborhoods is extensive and growing. Many of NYU’s most prominent academic initiatives involve partnerships with public and private entities that are dedicated to solving today’s most pressing societal issues. This award from the Carnegie Foundation shows that service is a cornerstone of an NYU education and reinforces the University’s commitment to educating leaders for tomorrow.”
NYU’s reclassification is valid until 2025.
About NYU
New York University, founded in 1831, is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai; and has 11 other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra. NYU sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university and more international students study at NYU than at any other U.S. university. Through its numerous schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public administration, engineering, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas.