noteworthy
Suffolk University has earned the 2026 Carnegie Foundation Elective Classification for Community Engagement—a prestigious national distinction awarded by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Suffolk is one of more than 230 colleges and universities nationwide recognized for deep, institution-wide commitments to community engagement.
This marks the third time Suffolk has received the Community Engagement Classification, first awarded in 2010. The designation honors institutions that collaborate meaningfully with local, national, and global communities to enrich teaching and learning, strengthen civic responsibility, address societal challenges, and serve the public good.
“This recognition affirms what has long been foundational to Suffolk’s identity—our commitment to meaningful, reciprocal partnerships that connect higher education with communities locally, nationally, and globally,” said Dr. Trina Bryant, director of the Center for Community Engagement, who led the yearlong application process together with Dr. Yahya Shamekhi, associate director of the Office of Institutional Research. That process brought faculty, staff, students, and a community partner to document the scope and impact of Suffolk’s community-engagement work, drawing on extensive data to tell the University’s story.
In its review, the Carnegie Foundation singled out a wide range of University initiatives, including Alternative Break service trips; civic-engagement and voter-education efforts; service-learning courses; expanded experiential-learning opportunities; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; faculty research on service learning; and public forums on current affairs.
Data from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement and the National Survey of Student Engagement further demonstrated Suffolk’s impact. Notably, while many students enter Suffolk with average or below-average self-assessed engagement skills, graduating students report skill levels that meet or exceed those of peer institutions.
Since its founding in 1997, Suffolk’s Center for Community Engagement has helped cultivate the knowledge, skills, and values that inspire active, globally responsible citizenship. “This honor belongs to Suffolk’s students, faculty, and staff, whose collective efforts exemplify what it means to be a public-serving university—one that strengthens communities, expands opportunity, and advances the mission of higher education,” Bryant said.
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spring 2026
