The 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is an elective designation awarded by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that highlights an institution’s commitment to community engagement.
The results are in – West Virginia University has once again earned the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, an elective designation that reflects an institution-wide commitment to community engagement through reciprocal partnerships that strengthen learning, research and public impact.
This national recognition is awarded by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Only 277 institutions currently hold the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. WVU first received the classification in 2010 and has maintained the elective designation since.
“Bringing our faculty, staff, students and communities together to build knowledge and turn learning into action that improves lives is the core of our land-grant mission,” Jorge Atiles, associate vice president and dean of the Division for Land-Grant Engagement, said. “This national recognition complements WVU’s R1 status and demonstrates the unique and meaningful ways our University is committed to service to our state and beyond through engaged scholarship.”
Through a campus-wide effort, colleges and units across the University reviewed their work and provided the information needed to tell WVU’s story of community engagement. The process was guided by a committee led by Kristi Wood-Turner, assistant dean and director of the WVU Center for Community Engagement.
“Receiving this recognition again reflects the strength of WVU’s institution-wide approach to community engagement. Across campuses, colleges, Extension, and Health Sciences, we work in reciprocal partnerships with communities to align teaching, research and service with shared priorities. That intentional design strengthens student learning while generating measurable outcomes for West Virginia,” Wood-Turner said.
The 2026 application highlighted how civic learning is woven into the education of future health professionals at WVU. At WVU Health Sciences, students do more than study community needs in class. They meet them through required community service and structured service-learning that includes reflection and clear links to coursework and professional responsibility. In the School of Medicine alone, students complete 100 hours of community service shaped by community-identified priorities, connecting clinical training to the people and places they will serve.
WVU also showcased the range of partnerships and problem-solving happening across the University, from data-informed efforts like the Chair the Love Software Selection project to building nurse-led access to care points in rural West Virginia. Work focused on literacy and nutrition, like Energy Express, along with initiatives, such as Trout in the Classroom (North Central WV), the J.W. Ruby Research, Education and Outreach Center, and the West Virginia Grant Resource Centers, reflect a sustained commitment that delivers real value to communities while strengthening student learning.
What makes WVU stand out is the WVU Center for Community Engagement, a university-wide unit charged with coordinating and strengthening this work across service-learning, direct service, community-engaged research and internship-style experiences, like Purpose to Action. Having a dedicated center with this charge helps WVU set a high bar for quality and consistency, and it positions the University to be recognized among the leading institutions for community engagement.
The classification is valid until 2032, at which time WVU will need to seek reclassification to retain the community engagement status.
The Division for Land-Grant Engagement is home to the WVU Center for Community Engagement, the Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and WVU Extension. Visit landgrant.wvu.edu to learn more.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Hannah Booth
Interim Director of Communications, Marketing and Technology
WVU Division for Land-Grant Engagement
304-293-8701;
hannah.booth@mail.wvu.edu