What is Community Engagement?
CSU San Marcos believes that the role of a public university is to be an active participant in the community. The university is committed to doing its part as a regional institution by partnering with local businesses, school districts and non-profit organizations to meet the needs of the community.
In 2006, CSUSM was recognized for its leadership role in Community Engagement by the Carnegie Foundation. CSUSM received Carnegie's Elective Classification in both Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships. The categories are defined as:
Curricular Engagement describes teaching, learning and scholarship which engage faculty, students and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration. Their interactions address community-identified needs, deepen students’ civic and academic learning, enhance community well-being and enrich the scholarship of the institution.
Outreach and Partnerships describes two different but related approaches to community engagement. The first focuses on the application and provision of institutional resources for community use with benefits to both campus and community. The latter focuses on collaborative interactions with community and related scholarship for the mutually beneficial exchange, exploration and application of knowledge, information and resources (research, capacity building, economic development, etc.).
