Marquette 2031: Carnegie Classification process reveals Marquette’s deep collaborations with partners in Milwaukee and beyond

Marquette 2031: Carnegie Classification process reveals Marquette's deep collaborations with partners in Milwaukee and beyond

Measuring Marquette's community engagement impact is a daunting task. The university partners with hundreds of Milwaukee-area organizations on everything from research to coursework to volunteering opportunities to grant funding. One partnership might contain as many as 10 discrete projects.

However, a team of nine people from across Marquette have been working since August to gather data on the university's community engagement footprint and quantify the university's impact.

"It's more than merely saying, 'Service is one of our pillars.' We must demonstrate reciprocity is at the core of our partnerships and engagement efforts," says Kelsey Otero, senior director of community engagement.

This effort is in pursuit of a Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, which recognizes higher education institutions that successfully collaborate with public, private and nonprofit partners for mutual benefit. Marquette successfully earned this classification during the last application cycle in 2014, becoming one of 357 degree-granting institutions out of nearly 4,000 in the United States to merit the honor. The next cycle closes in April, with public announcements of new honorees set for January 2026.

"The Carnegie Classification puts you in a tier of universities that are leaders in the community engagement space; it really demonstrates our institution's commitment to the work," says Kasie Van Sistine, project manager in the Office of University Relations.

The process is about more than just obtaining the classification. The university's Marquette 2031 Strategic Plan: Guided by Mission, Inspired to Change calls for the university to build an environment that "attracts collaborators who share our commitment to engaging in research and scholarship that addresses the emerging challenges of an ever-changing world." The group's work paints a more complete picture of the current state of community engagement, which will help the university make decisions about how to do it more effectively in the future.

Every other week, Otero and Van Sistine meet with the team to make progress on retaining Marquette's classification. The Carnegie Classification process is an institutional self-study to identify all forms of community-based teaching, learning, scholarship, and collaboration. Throughout the data collection process, the core team is identifying new ways that Marquette is fulfilling its mission of service and contributing to the public good.

To gather data, the group has sent surveys and conducted interviews to get a clear picture of the depth of engagement and its overall mutual benefit. The group repeats the process for every partnership included in the application. Ultimately, the data allow the university and partners to better understand who is participating, where this work is taking place and opportunities to deepen engagement.

"It's important that we foster institutional alignment for community engagement because this work is not tied to just one leader or one area of the university - it is more impactful when it is integrated and pervasive," Otero says

Since the university's last Carnegie application, the team has identified new avenues that Marquette faculty are partnering with the community to build mutual capacity, launch programs, secure grants and publish. "Community engagement enriches scholarship, research, and creative activity," Otero points out.

"When I think about student outcomes and experiential learning-things that are central to what we are as a university - so many of them touch community engaged work," Otero adds. "What we do speaks to our educational mission; you learn something in the classroom, then you see it out in the world. Designing those experiences effectively requires valuing the expertise of our partners and raising the visibility of this work, which is what this effort is about."

Interaction with Milwaukee institutions is a hallmark of a Marquette education. The Princeton Review recently ranked Marquette the top school in the country for engagement in community service; approximately 80 percent of undergraduate students participate in a service initiative over their time at the university. Marquette's Jesuit identity calls for the sharing of knowledge beyond the university's walls in pursuit of solutions to societal challenges.

The Carnegie Classification is a symbol of that ethos, as well as proof that the university has truly lived its mission to "Be The Difference."

"We don't expect students to live in a vacuum - they are citizens of the world. Our partnerships should reflect that they are not just part of campus, but part of our community," Van Sistine says.

Marquette will submit its application during spring semester 2025. Watch Marquette Today for updates.

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