Teaching foundation features strong community service

The Carnegie Foundation Advancement of Teaching chooses Elon for a pilot program on community service

Erin Winterbottom / Reporter

Elon is one of 13 colleges and universities throughout the nation selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to develop a new classification for schools focused on community service.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, founded in 1905 by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie and charted by Congress in 1906, is a major center for research and development of new policies for universities. The foundation focuses on four types of education: undergraduate, professional and graduate, primary education and sharing of new information. It is located in Stanford, Calif.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, developed in the 1970s, outlines and characterizes the diversity of higher education in the United States.

Representatives from Elon and other universities and colleges involved in the pilot process will meet and work with the foundation to develop new ways to document volunteer activities. According to the Carnegie Foundation’s web site, these “community engagement activities…constitute an important element of institutional mission and distinctiveness, but…are not currently represented in the national data on colleges and universities.”

Part of Carnegie’s classification revisions for 2005 will not include all colleges and universities; institutions will be able to elect to participate.

Different campuses were chosen to represent a wide range of institutions recognized as having strong community service goals. They were also chosen after consulting national leaders, professional associations and literature on community engagement.

Elon students, faculty and staff are active in volunteer and community service. Elon students volunteered more than 82,500 hours during the 2003-2004 school year. In addition, 88 percent of Elon graduates partake in some form of community engagement.

Elon is one of 10 founding members of Project Pericles, a program sponsored by the Eugene Lang Foundation to challenge students to achieve a greater sense of moral, civic and social responsibility.

Other colleges and universities chosen to participate in this pilot program include Indiana University, Kapi’olani Community College, LaGuardia Community College, Michigan State University, Northern Kentucky University, Portland State University, Santa Clara University, Spelman College, Tusculum College, University of Denver, University of Minnesota and the University of Pennsylvania.

Contact Erin Winterbottom at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.