Carnegie Reclassification Pilot Study: Michigan State University Response (PDF, 774 KB)

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, as part of an overall revision of its classification system, has created a new Community Engagement classification. This classification allows higher education institutions the option to describe and represent their outreach and engagement work. In 2005, MSU and 12 other colleges and universities helped to develop a set of indicators and a framework for the classification. Dr. Fitzgerald, the Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement, and Dr. Zimmerman, the Director for the National Center for the Study of University Engagement, represented MSU in this pilot project and are the primary authors of the MSU report.

After submitting the report for the original pilot that resulted in the new classification, MSU submitted some additional materials about service-learning and a grid describing representative MSU-community partnerships. View Addendum I | View Addendum II.

NCA Re-Accreditation Self-Study: Criterion Five (Engagement and Service) (PDF, 172 KB)

Michigan State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLC/NCA) of Colleges and Schools. Every 10 years the University voluntarily undergoes an institution-wide accreditation review, one component of which is a self-study report for the evaluation committee. Every unit on campus contributes to the re-accreditation self-study. To maintain its accreditation the University must provide evidence-based assessment of five criteria, and must demonstrate that it is using those assessment outcomes for continuing improvement. Criterion 5 of the self-study addresses engagement and service. The report from the latest review, in 2005, indicates that MSU has fulfilled all requirements for its 10-year re-accreditation.

University Outreach and Engagement prepared guidelines to help unit administrators respond to Criterion 5. Tools and techniques include a checklist for compliance, a constituent analysis guide, and a guide to building constituent relationships.

View tools for preparing expedited responses to HLC/NCA Criterion 5

View tools for preparing in-depth responses to HLC/NCA Criterion 5

University Outreach at Michigan State University: Extending Knowledge to Serve Society (PDF, 18 MB)

This 1993 report by The Provost's Committee on University Outreach articulates an intellectual foundation for outreach and makes recommendations for further strengthening university outreach at Michigan State University

The report consists of two major sections: Defining Dimensions of University Outreach and Strategic Directions for Strengthening University Outreach at Michigan State University. The Defining Dimensions section establishes the conceptual foundation of the Committee's thinking; the Strategic Directions discussion addresses the leadership required for maintaining outreach excellence at MSU. Content and audience are discussed in the Preface. The Preface also includes an overview of the history and status of outreach at Michigan State with emphasis on describing the effort over the past decade to create a new model for outreach. A postscript briefly discusses The Twenty-first Century University and Outreach.

Background Papers: University Outreach at Michigan State University: Extending Knowledge to Serve Society (PDF, 21 MB)

A companion to the 1993 report (University Outreach at Michigan State University: Extending Knowledge to Serve Society), this volume contains background material that was not included in the 1993 final report to the Provost's Office. Although this material was not officially submitted, it provides additional depth and breadth to the 1993 report.

Points of Distinction: A Guidebook for Planning and Evaluating Quality Outreach (PDF, 439KB)

As higher education becomes more engaged with the communities it serves, well-planned outreach initiatives become increasingly important. But tools for planning and assessing the quality and impact of outreach efforts have been limited. Such planning and assessment are necessary to support and achieve standards of high quality and to evaluate faculty work for promotion and tenure and various accrediting bodies.

With Points of Distinction: A Guidebook for Planning and Evaluating Quality Outreach, a faculty group at Michigan State University has developed helpful tools to assist academic units, faculty, and the higher education community plan, monitor, evaluate, and reward outreach efforts. Published in 1996 and revised in 2000, this 50-page guidebook is divided into three sections: The Academic Unit: Planning and Evaluating the Outreach Enterprise; The Individual: Planning and Evaluating Faculty Outreach Efforts; and The Project: Evaluating Quality Outreach. A four-page matrix describes the dimensions of quality outreach: significance, context, scholarship, and impact. An appendix includes tools for defining outreach, unit planning and priority setting, rewarding quality outreach, evaluating unit outreach, developing a faculty outreach portfolio, and evaluating individual outreach.

The University Continuing Education Association (UCEA)  recognized Points of Distinction with its 1998 Innovations Award.

Four Dimensions of Quality Outreach (The Matrix) (PDF, 393 KB) -- Reprinted from the Points of Distinction Guidebook

Fulfilling Higher Education's Covenant with Society: The Emerging Outreach Agenda Summary of the Capstone Symposium of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation - MSU Lifelong Education Grant 

In 1988, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded Michigan State University a $10.2 million grant to help support an institution-wide realignment process aimed at broadening, strengthening, and more fully integrating outreach as a primary mission of each of its major academic units. In October 1995 Michigan State celebrated the completion of its Kellogg Foundation grant with a capstone symposium designed to focus on institutional strategies to strengthen and integrate outreach. The intent was to share what MSU has learned from its own efforts as well as learn from similar efforts at other universities. Fulfilling Higher Education's Covenant with Society: The Emerging Outreach Agenda was published in 1996 as both an archival repository of the symposium and a reference tool to promote continued dialogue about and development of higher education's outreach agenda.

Rather than providing full text of the symposium's general and concurrent sessions, the 186 pages of Fulfilling Higher Education's Covenant with Society are comprised of short summaries organized into the following major sections: Redefining and Repositioning Outreach in the University; Intellectual Challenges in the Twenty-First Century: New Roles and Rewards for University Faculty; Leadership Roles and Responsibilities; Assessing Outreach; Problem-Focused Community Collaborations; Instructional Outreach; Change Model; Higher Education: Purpose and Promise in a Changing Society. A publication prologue, epilogue, and appendices are also included.

Outreach Linkages 

Outreach Linkages (1998-2000) was a news periodical published by University Outreach and Engagement for the Michigan State University community. Each edition focused on a particular theme related to the outreach mission of the University, and features articles about the outreach work of MSU faculty and staff.