Our Mission
The Center for Academic Community Engagement collaborates with campus and community partners to develop and foster transformative and impactful educational service experiences that inspire undergraduate and postgraduate participants to become good citizens and compassionate leaders. Through mutually beneficial partnerships, we provide participants meaningful opportunities to develop competence in their professional skills and serve others in ways that respect identities, empower communities, and produce positive and long lasting change.
Franciscan Tradition
Saint Francis inspires us to commit to building a world that is more just, peaceable, and humane. In his time, Francis encountered a variety of people and situations that inspired him to a meaningful life of service working alongside the poor and marginalized. At the Center for Academic Community Engagement, we strive to carry forward this tradition in a variety of programs and project based services that bring together faculty, staff, students, and volunteers collaboration with members of our community.
Key priorities
- Improve the quality and increase the quantity of our collaborations with campus colleagues and community partners, and actively support the development of campus-community partnerships within and beyond the Capital Region.
- Advance and promote our cohort model where participants, cooperating in friendship and respect, are committed to developing themselves and improving the lives of others.
- Prepare ourselves, our participants, and campus and community partners to reflect on engagement experiences and to better understand and empower those who live in the communities we serve.