Kent State University is one of a select group of national universities in which collaboration, outreach and public service are ingrained in the institution’s core values and mission, according to a new classification by the prestigious Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The Carnegie Foundation’s new Community Engagement Classification is divided into three categories – Curricular Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships, and Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships together – for a total of 76 institutions with this national recognition. The Foundation affirmed Kent State as one of nine universities nationally with the classification of Community Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships.

That classification, announced today, includes one other Ohio institution, the University of Cincinnati. Bowling Green State University achieved the classification of Curricular Engagement.

“With all the current talk about the need for deeper levels of collaboration by universities, we are proud that Kent State is recognized as a national model for partnerships and outreach to communities, businesses, other universities and institutions,” said Dr. Lester A. Lefton, Kent State president. “Public universities should serve the public, and that has been Kent State’s mission since its founding as this region’s public university.”

For the new Carnegie classification, colleges and universities nationwide submit required documentation describing community engagement programs and activities, so the Foundation can acknowledge “elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness that are not represented in the national data on colleges and universities,” according to a Carnegie statement.

Alexander McCormick, who directs Carnegie’s classification effort, said the new designation “represents a significant affirmation of the importance of community engagement in the agenda of higher education.”

Documentation for the Carnegie classification submitted in a report on Kent State notes that shortly after the institution’s founding in 1910, community education extension services were offered, an effort that grew into the seven Kent State Regional Campuses that provide education, research and outreach throughout Northeast Ohio.

The Kent State report listed 78 centers and institutes of the university, the Division of Regional Development, numerous and significant partnerships for research, education, workforce development and start-up companies, and specialized business and technology collaborations with communities, businesses and other institutions in the region.

The new Community Engagement Classification is part of the Foundation’s overhaul of its respected classification of the nation’s colleges and universities, which is the standard authority for higher education. Kent State also is classified by Carnegie among the nation’s 77 public research universities that demonstrate high research activity.

For more information on the Carnegie classifications, visit www.carnegiefoundation.org.