The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected California State University, Dominguez Hills for its Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. Out of 305 universities that applied nationwide, CSU Dominguez Hills was one of only 115 given this distinction in 2010.
Cheryl McKnight, director, Center for Service Learning, Internships, & Civic Engagement (SLICE), says that the university has “been measured against the very best, and we stood up to that standard.”
“What this means is that other universities will now use us as a touchstone against which to measure their community engagement,” she says. “We have shown our commitment to the multiple forms of scholarship of service in our teaching, learning, and research and to our community. When renewing our WASC accreditation or writing grant proposals, we can show we have been officially certified for our excellence in engaging with the community and community partners.”
The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is given to those institutions that can demonstrate a culture in the areas of curricular engagement, and outreach and partnerships. At CSU Dominguez Hills there are numerous public-private opportunities for students to not only enrich their academic pursuits, but also engage in addressing needs in the community. Examples include the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinics that offered free medical care to thousands in Los Angeles last spring and at which nursing students volunteered their time and gained valuable experience; the on-campus Jumpstart program,
through which students mentor pre-schoolers in high-risk communities; internships with JusticeCorps, where students, under the direction of attorneys, assist self-represented litigants with paperwork; a large-scale mural project for the Watts Health Center that was painted by art students; and numerous volunteer and internship opportunities at the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum.
Additionally, a wide variety academic centers housed on campus are focus on community-based research, including the Center for Urban Environmental Research, which maintains native California species propagation sites and educates students and the community on conservation and urban ecology, and the Urban Community Research Center, a multi-disciplinary, university-wide applied research center focuses on the needs, problems and solutions that arise in urban areas, with a special focus on the South Bay Region of the Los Angeles Basin.
This is the second national recognition CSU Dominguez Hills has received in the area of community engagement. Last year, the university was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for exemplary service to the community. This is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for commitment to service learning and civic engagement.
For more information about service learning and civic engagement at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.
