This spring, the Office of Research and Engagement will celebrate the achievements of students, faculty, staff, and community partners for their achievements in research, engagement, and compliance activities with an awards ceremony. This annual ORE Research Awards Luncheon will include recognition of the comprehensive research enterprise, including activities related to funding, mentorship, creative achievement, community engagement, and responsible conduct of research.

UT attendees (from left) Lisa Davenport, Lola Alapo, Elizabeth Burman, Bob Kronick, and Jenny Retherford

Five faculty and staff members shared the impact of UT’s work on various communities during a national conference in Omaha, Nebraska, earlier this month.

As part of the university’s successful Carnegie Community Engagement Classification application process, the Office of Research and Engagement has compiled a list of fifty of UT’s best community-campus partnerships. The university will be celebrating its status as an engaged institution throughout the coming year by featuring these individual examples in articles that highlight their unique contribution to the community.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the UT Institute of Agriculture have earned the 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for collaborating with community partners to address society’s most pressing needs.

The prestigious Carnegie engagement classification recognizes colleges’ and universities’ commitments to strengthening the bond between campus and community. UT joins a group of fifty-two universities with the “very high intensity” research classification and the engaged status designation. Fewer than half of the universities in Carnegie’s “very high intensity” research classification have achieved engaged status.

“Our university is an economic engine and a social change agent in our own backyard and across the globe, “ said UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “We are proud to be recognized for our community engagement and outreach, service-learning, experiential learning, and volunteerism. The new Carnegie designation will sharpen our focus on the mutually beneficial partnerships and exchange of knowledge that help improve people’s lives.”