FAQs

Community Engagement at Columbia College Chicago is about using our scholarship and creative practices to drive meaningful social actions that are well informed by the communities we partner with in Chicago and beyond.

What is Community Engagement?

Community engagement describes the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Publicly engaged academic work is a scholarly or creative activity integral to a faculty member's academic area. It encompasses different forms of making knowledge about, for, and with diverse publics and communities. Through a coherent, purposeful sequence of activities, it contributes to the public good and yields artifacts of public and intellectual value. http://imaginingamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ScholarshipinPublicKnowledge.pdf

What is Community Engagement at Columbia College Chicago?

Columbia College Chicago has partaken in the full spectrum of community engagement activities since its inception in 1890. Many of the college's faculty, staff, students, and alumni have presented their ideas and creative practices within the public sphere of the Chicago community and beyond in pursuit of a range of progressive social agendas. 

These activities range from public programmings such as broadcasts, exhibitions, lectures, performances, screenings, and focused community projects intended to build authentic connections between the internal community of the college and external communities. 

 In 2016/17 an internal Community Engagement Strategic Plan Implementation Committee comprising of administrators and faculty conducted a college-wide study of the range of community engagement activities at Columbia College Chicago. This study captured information from faculty, staff, and students that resulted in the linked recommendations. From their research, the committee developed a working definition of community engagement that reflects the individual and institutional initiatives that are emanating from the college.

“Columbia College Chicago students, faculty and staff collaborate with various communities in a reciprocal partnership with the goal of mutual transformation. Community partnerships range from college groups to civic and community-based organizations, professional groups, and entrepreneurial initiatives. The majority of these partnerships occur in an urban context, reflecting a range of economic, racial, cultural, and educational diversity afforded by our location in the City of Chicago. This experiential learning affords students the opportunity to apply the theories learned in the classroom, reinforce and extend skills, build their portfolios, and participate in multiple forms of knowledge construction. These collaborations also help to sustain diverse forms of socially engaged creative practice, scholarship, advocacy, and activism.

By actively creating and fostering relationships with communities, students develop the ability to engage respectfully and with cultural sensitivity, examine current and historically relevant challenges, and act as agents of change through academically-supported means. These reciprocal relationships seek to inspire lifelong engagement in students, faculty, and staff and contribute to positive change in the community."
 
Source: Columbia College Chicago Community Engagement Strategic Plan Implementation Committee 6.7.2017 – Co-Chaired by Professor Suzanne McBride and Professor Tim Cozzins