Rockhurst Earns Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement
Recognizing ongoing efforts to meaningfully partner with neighbors and serve beyond its campus walls, Rockhurst University has earned the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Rockhurst joins 276 other institutions in the United States to have earned the classification, including 237 in this cycle, all of which were required to collect and provide sufficient supporting evidence of community engagement as part of the application process. Rockhurst has held the classification continuously since 2010. Its current classification is valid until 2032.
“We are grateful for the Carnegie Foundation for their recognition of the amazing work that continues to happen in the area of community engagement,” said Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., University president. “I want to thank the members of our community who took great care in compiling the data and reflecting on how we serve for and with the community around us.”
Examples of community engagement efforts include the Companions in Chillicothe prison education program in partnership with the Missouri Department of Corrections, ongoing service projects and partnerships, and spaces made available for community use, including the new Alvin Brooks Center for Faith-Justice, which houses organizations KC Common Good and the Ignatian Spirituality Center.
According to the ACE and the Carnegie Foundation, successful applications document excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership and practices in support of community engagement. The classification is awarded following a process of self-study by each institution. The classification has been the leading framework for institutional assessment and recognition of community engagement in U.S. higher education for the past 19 years with classification cycles in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2024, and now 2026. The 2029 cycle will be for first-time applicants.
“Our mission calls us to engage with complexity and to find ways to use our gifts as individuals and as an institution in partnership and service with others,” said Bill Kriege, director of service and action and a member of the application committee. “To earn the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation reflects the work that so many people, from leadership to students, do every day on this campus to expand our impact and make our community better in the spirit of the Jesuit core value of ‘magis.’”
