Center for Community Engagement
2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Reapplication Process
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USM is one of 131 public, R1 institutions with the Carnegie Community Engaged Classification, the highest standard of recognition for community engagement efforts in higher education. To receive this classification, institutions must provide extensive documentation demonstrating institutional support, commitment, and participation in community-engaged activities.
USM was classified in 2010 and 2020, and will be due for reclassification in April 2025. The following individuals have been appointed to a faculty/staff committee who will prepare the application.
Carnegie CE Reclassification Committee
- Chair - Dr. Christy Kayser, Director, Center for Community Engagement
- Dr. Wei Wang, Provost Fellow, Institutional Support for Campus-Community Engagement and Associate Professor, School of Marketing
- Dr. Maria Wallace, Associate Professor of Science Education, Center for STEM Education
- Dr. Candice Salyers, Associate Professor of Dance, School of Visual and Performance Arts
- Dr. Charkarra Anderson-Lewis, Professor of Public Health for The Dr. Lynn Cook Hartwig Public Health Program
- Dr. Ann Marie Kinnell, Director, School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professional Development
Individuals with information relevant to the application may submit details to christy.kayserFREEMississippi.%C2%A0The reclassification framework is available online.
Community engagement describes reciprocal partnerships between campus and community members that are designed to serve a public purpose and to build the capacity of individuals, groups, and organizations involved to understand and collaboratively address issues of public concern.
Applicants must be able to demonstrate that its institution is committed to community engagement, particularly that there are university-wide efforts to coordinate community engagement activities including:
- Coordinating infrastructure;
- Campus-wide tracking/documentation;
- Assessment of community partnerships;
- Faculty rewards for community engagement;
- Student civic learning, and;
- Professional development opportunities
- Service-learning
- Community-engaged (or community-based participatory) research; research conducted in collaboration with communities
- Community advisory councils
- Outreach activities that serve an authentic community-identified need
- Opportunities for students to engage with community and reflect on civic participation
- Free or low-cost services to the community
This elective classification process assists USM in
- Demonstrating the university’s benefit to the public;
- Evaluating high impact teaching and research practices;
- Examining institutional alignment of community-based teaching, learning and scholarship and;
- Clarifying our institutional identity and mission that distinguishes us from peers and capitalizes on one of our existing strengths.
