UCF first received the designation in 2008 and then again in 2015. The honor validates UCF’s efforts toward fulfilling its mission to unleash the potential of every individual, enrich the human experience through inclusion, discovery, and innovation, and propel broad-based prosperity for the many communities it serves.

“We recognize these institutions for their exceptional commitment to community engagement, and their work to transform knowledge into meaningful action,” says Timothy Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “They exemplify the true spirit of the Carnegie endorsement and the power of serving the public good.”

The Carnegie Classifications are the nation’s leading framework for categorizing and describing colleges and universities in the United States. Utilized frequently by policymakers, funders, and researchers, the classifications are a critical benchmarking tool for postsecondary institutions.

Among UCF’s community engagement efforts that helped earn the honor are:

UCF Smart and Trustworthy Air Quality Sensor Network (STAIR): The STAIR project is a multidisciplinary undertaking through which UCF researchers designed and built low-cost, cybersecure, solar-powered air quality monitors and installed more than 50 across downtown Orlando. In addition to providing a denser network of air quality information, the team is providing virtual training on air quality data and interpretation, sensor technologies, and data driven citizen advocacy. The effort is driven by College of Engineering and Computer Science Assistant Professor Haofei Yu and College of Community Innovation and Education Assistant Professor Kelly Stevens and Professor Thomas Bryer.

Citizen Science GIS: Developed by Associate Professor Timothy Hawthorne, Citizen Science GIS is an organization that connects scientists and society using geospatial technologies to make science more accessible and responsive to community concerns. In early 2022, Citizen Science GIS designed and launched the nation’s first GeoBus, which is a mobile STEAM learning lab powered by solar on a repurposed 40-foot city bus that provides geospatial technology learning experiences to K-12 youth and teachers across Florida.

H.O.P.E. Circle: Assistant Professor of Urban Education L. Trenton S. Marsh co-developed and implemented the Healing Oasis for Peace & Empowerment (H.O.P.E.) Circle at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. The H.O.P.E. Circle is a youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) initiative, formed in February 2022 after the tragic, gun-related death of a Clubhouse member. H.O.P.E. aims to amplify the voices and experiences of youth; pivot the tragedies into transformative learning experiences to impact the community positively; and demonstrate how YPAR as both a socially just disposition and methodology can be used to broaden understanding of perspectives, namely of groups whose voices and experiences have historically been ignored or dismissed in schools and communities.

Florida Prison Education Project (FPEP): The FPEP provides educational opportunities to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Florida, researches the societal benefits of prison education and integrates the study of justice into UCF curriculum. The project also makes public policy recommendations based on research. Since its founding in 2017, the FPEP has offered 50 classes to 700 incarcerated students at 6 different facilities and donated over 20,000 books to libraries in Florida prisons. The project is led by Keri Watson, associate professor of art history.

The Puerto Rico Research Hub (PR Hub): The PR Hub was established in 2017 following Hurricane Maria, which displaced thousands of individuals and families from Puerto Rico, leading to relocation in Florida. The PR Hub focuses on four pillars with emphasis on Puerto Rico: conducting academic research, engaging UCF students, strengthening partnerships, and promoting engagement through community outreach. The hub is led by Fernando Rivera, professor of sociology, and it recently received a further $500,000 external grant to expand its community research.

UCF’s Rehabilitation Innovation Center Smart Apartment: The apartment mimics a residential living space and is equipped with a hospital bed, Hoyer lift, television, Nest thermostat, fan, lamp, and window shutters — all of which are bound to smart home technology. The Smart Apartment serves as a training center for patients who have disabilities to learn how to use the technology before installing it in their own homes. The patients are instructed by College of Health Professions graduate students who work under the guidance of faculty.

The UCF Center for Community Schools: As a comprehensive resource for the advancement of community schools, the center offers technical assistance, assessment and evaluation, and university assistance, all of which contribute to continuous improvement and better outcomes for students, families and communities. The center promotes the development of community partnerships that include four core partners — a school district, a university or college, a community-based nonprofit, and a healthcare provider, as well as others.

The Lou Frey Institute at UCF: The institute houses the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship and is a leading provider of civic education instructional and professional development resources in Florida and beyond. The institute’s work promotes the development of enlightened, responsible, and actively engaged citizens through civic education programs.

The Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE) at UCF: LIFE enriches the lives of older adults of Central Florida through a wide variety of lectures and experiences introducing current issues and expanding on age-old topics. Participants enjoy the benefits of connecting with UCF students and faculty through UCF sponsored research, volunteer opportunities, and access to UCF athletics and performing arts programs.

The 2015 honorees include faculty and staff members; administrators; members of the UCF Board of Trustees; and Judy Thames, president of LIFE at UCF. This is the third year the center has recognized women around campus during March.

“They’re all different and all amazing in how they have contributed to UCF’s past, present and future,” said Linda Walters, director of the center.

To honor the work by all women on campus, the month-long observance will feature one woman with a Q&A each day on the center’s website. All of their photos and Q&As will be archived on the website, and they are given a certificate. They also will have the opportunity to join President John C. Hitt and First Lady Martha Hitt for lunch.

“Women’s History Month is a national celebration of the important, but sometimes overlooked, roles women have played in our history,” Walters said. “We have our executive board nominate notable women across campus each year for us to celebrate and learn more about.”

The center offers resources to help women succeed in academic life and balance their life and work issues.

Patel is a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, a fellow at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a fellow at The Institute for Food and Development Policy. In his first book, “Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System,” he asserts that powerful distributors control the health of the entire world. His most recent book, “The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy,” focusing on the “financial madness” of the global food system, is a New York Times bestseller.

During the presentation, which was organized by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, Patel stated that we live in a world in which a billion people are overweight, while another billion starve. He declared that the United States, despite its superpower status, is not free from this problem. Patel noted that in 2009 alone, 49.2 million people went hungry in the United States. He further claimed that one in five Americans goes hungry today.

Pulling out a candy bar, Patel jokingly claimed to have the key to the global food system. He commented on how people purchase and eat such items without knowing what is in them or even where they originate. Patel declared that inconvenient food becomes convenient because of the rhythm of our lives. People then routinely take up rather abnormal eating habits, such as eating a candy bar with peculiar-sounding ingredients. 

Patel encouraged the audience to imagine an hourglass shape which represents the global food system, with the thousands of farmers at the top, a handful of companies in the middle and the mass of consumers at the bottom. He further indicated that consumers are led to believe they come out ahead when corporations compete. However, he said, this is not necessarily so. “There is no free market,” Patel said.

Patel then contended that the poor suffer the most in the global food system. On one hand, independent farmers are unable to stand against the strength of the corporations in the market, and on the other hand, the poor – as consumers – are victims.

He further argued that there is more than enough food to feed the world “one and a half times over,” but not under the current capitalist, market-based structure of the global food system, where large corporations receive huge tax incentives and are able to shape the rules to their advantage. To help resolve the problem, Patel encouraged students to get involved and stand for change, either on campus or through global organizations such as La Via Campesina and Slow Food. He maintained that only when all of the concerned parties are at the table can real progress be made toward a more democratic food system.

He said it’s important for people to consume more locally grown food in order to support a projected world population of 9 billion by 2050. He said he views local food systems as stepping stones towards a democracy within the broader food system.

In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors of this event included The India Program at UCF, the Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, the UCF Political Science Department, the UCF International Services Center, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.