We serve as connectors and cultivators because we maintain an unrelenting belief in the power of partnerships. By supporting relationships between the campus and community that are forged from mutual trust, respect, and commitment, we see projects that focus on strengths and assets, build power, and rely upon a sharing of resources for mutual benefit.

A strategic approach to teaching, scholarship (research, creative work) and service to address public (often “wicked”) problems through collaborative community partnerships that are

• Reciprocal, mutually beneficial
• Share risk, benefit, responsibility
• Local, national, and/or global
• Diverse (e.g., non-profit, government, private sector)

• Improve academic knowledge as a direct result of community partnership
• Engage in effective dialogue about local and/or global issues with faculty, students, and communities
• Examine critical community issues from multiple perspectives
• Develop the ability to obtain relevant knowledge of local and/or global civic structures that will enable faculty, students, and communities to implement change
• Develop the capacity for critical thinking and reflective judgment
• Apply scholarly resources to the partnerships that can address public problems with communities