{"id":171685,"date":"2026-01-23T15:07:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=171685"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:48:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:48:45","slug":"national-recognition-for-bates-exemplary-success-in-community-engagement-as-well-as-its-return-on-investment-for-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/23\/national-recognition-for-bates-exemplary-success-in-community-engagement-as-well-as-its-return-on-investment-for-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"National recognition for Bates’ ‘exemplary’ success in community engagement as well as its return on investment for graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bates has once again been recognized by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its deep level of commitment to community engagement, an honor the college first achieved in 2008 and again in 2015<\/a>. Recently Bates was also lauded  by ACE and Carnegie for its success in providing paths for graduates to earn competitive wages. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"a<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Last week, ACE and Carnegie announced that Bates had been designated with the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement. Community engagement constitutes \u201ccollaboration 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Bates, inspiration for that work comes from the diverse and rich opportunities for student learning, skill building, and collaboration offered by the college\u2019s location, explained Darby Ray, director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Carnegie recognition is a wonderful affirmation of the college’s dual commitment to high impact student learning and community well-being, as well as the off-campus community’s investment in our students, \u201c said Ray, who is also the Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Professor of Civic Engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutual respect between college and community, along with desire for collaboration, is a key part of the success, Ray said. \u201cThe result of it is that Bates students have meaningful opportunities to work alongside community leaders to develop and apply knowledge and skills to address real-world challenges like public health, affordable housing, and arts-based economic development.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates was one of approximately 230 institutions nationwide to receive the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, and the only Maine institution of higher education on the list. This designation, which Bates must apply for cyclically, is valid until 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour institution\u2019s application documented excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement,\u201d ACE and Carnegie wrote in a letter to Bates, lauding the college\u2019s \u201cexemplary institutionalized practices of community engagement.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aspirations
Aspirations Days, a joint effort of the Harward Center and the Aspiration Club, provide 8th-grade students of Auburn Middle School and Lewiston Middle School opportunities to think about potential next steps in life. Between 500 and 600 visit campus annually. In September 2025, students from Auburn Middle School toured the campus and had a full day of college access workshops, Purposeful Work sessions, and activities led by Bates students and Harward Center staff. More than 100 Bates students volunteer during Aspiration Days. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\n\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bates has advanced the work of deepening partnerships, leveraging community assets, and addressing urgent societal challenges with \u201cclarity and distinction,\u201d the award letter said. The accomplishment \u201cis especially noteworthy amid significant federal policy and funding shifts shaping the future of higher education.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, in 2025, Bates was identified for its success in a relatively new classification that ACE and Carnegie began using in 2022, the Student Access and Earnings Classification (an earlier version was known as the Social and Economic Mobility Classification), which prioritizes student success. The classification is intended to identify which American colleges and universities are providing access to students from lower socioeconomic and historically underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds to higher education and paths to earning competitive wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates ranked high in terms of its return on investment. Eight years after a student first enrolled at Bates \u2014 so typically, four years into being in the workplace \u2014 data shows that their median earnings are 68 percent above the median earnings of a comparison group of similar institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth these designations speak to the deep and rewarding experiences Bates has to offer to students,\u201d said President Garry W. Jenkins. \u201cWe\u2019re committed to our community and we\u2019re giving our undergraduates meaningful educational experiences not just on our campus, but within the Lewiston-Auburn region we care about so much. They\u2019re volunteering in public schools and museums. They\u2019re consulting and conducting research in a wide range of areas, from sustainability to water quality and asbestos remediation, and studying the history and culture of this community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"On
On a chilly night in December, students from Associate Professor of Theater Courtney Smith\u2019s Introduction to Digital Media course presented their final project on Lisbon Street, the heart of Lewiston’s historic downtown. For their work in this community engaged learning experience, they explored resources that included the Muskie Archives on campus and the Androscoggin Historical Society, culminating on a multimedia portrait of Lisbon Street, dating back to the days of electric trolley cars. In attendance at the big reveal included Professor Emeritus Doug Hodgkin, Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline, and Darby Ray, who collaborated with Smith. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These community connections are not fleeting, Jenkins noted. “We see this reflected in how many Bates graduates stay in the state \u2014 a little more than 12 percent \u2014 or how they develop the habit of building community connections in their future neighborhoods and communities across the country and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt Bates, we believe that students from all backgrounds should have access to the transformative power of education,\u201d Jenkins added. \u201cThat is and always has been part of our mission. To know that their Bates education is helping graduates thrive in their careers is reason to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bates has once again been recognized by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its deep level of commitment to community engagement, an honor the college first achieved in 2008 and again in 2015. Recently Bates was also lauded\u00a0 by ACE and Carnegie for its success in providing paths for graduates to earn competitive wages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1283,"featured_media":171734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[8,1,30,31,32,220,11009],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bates-values","category-batesnews","category-civic-engagement","category-lewiston-auburn","category-maine-and-new-england","category-service","category-the-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171685"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171773,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171685\/revisions\/171773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}