CHICAGO — In recognition of its work throughout the Chicago area and beyond, DePaul University has received Carnegie Community Engagement Classification status for 2026, the third such honor for the university since the classification was founded in 2006.

Awarded by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, DePaul is one of nine institutions in Illinois — and 277 nationally — to currently hold Carnegie Community Engagement Classification status. DePaul will hold this classification until 2032.

“DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian mission calls us to be deeply present in the communities we serve—not as observers, but as active partners,” said DePaul President Robert L. Manuel. “From faculty research that addresses society’s most urgent challenges to students working hand-in-hand with community partners across Chicago and beyond, community engagement is woven into the fabric of a DePaul education. It is central to who we are as a university and how we prepare our students to lead with purpose and responsibility, guided by a concern for all people in the communities they serve.”

A small sample of DePaul’s community work includes:

• Academic Service Learning: DePaul supports 175-200 courses a year that integrate service-learning education where thousands of students engage in real-world projects with hundreds of community partners across Chicagoland and beyond.
• The Student Urban Research Corps: Graduate and undergraduate student researchers participate in data collection, management and analysis, including the creation of data visualizations, for urban and community-based studies and projects.
• Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Faculty and students teach and learn alongside incarcerated individuals at Cook County Jail.
• Chicago Playworks: The Theatre School welcomes thousands of students and families to productions each season, opening the world of theatre arts to new generations.
• DemonTHON: Led by students, DemonTHON is a year-long fundraising effort for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. In 14 years, the organization has raised nearly $2.3 million for the hospital.
• DePaul Migration Collaborative: Composed of faculty and staff from the College of Law and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, the DePaul Migration Collaborative engages scholars, practitioners, students and alumni to find solutions to society’s most pressing problems in the areas of migration, mobility and human rights.
• Institute For Housing Studies: The institute provides reliable, impartial and timely data and research to inform housing policy decisions and discussions about the state of housing in the Chicago region and nationally. Their work focuses on affordable housing issues and understanding the changing dynamics of neighborhood housing markets.
• Vincentian Service Day: An annual tradition at DePaul which routinely features over 1,000 DePaul students, staff, faculty and alumni participating in a day of service, Vincentian Service Day sees the university work with 50+ community partners in the Chicagoland area and cities around the country.

Additional DePaul community engagement projects are viewable online at Collaboratory, a resource that helps DePaul faculty, staff and students find like-minded colleagues for service work.

“The Carnegie distinction reflects the way that DePaul's mission is so deeply entrenched in Chicago and Chicago communities,” said Howard Rosing, executive director of DePaul’s Steans Center.

The Steans Center develops mutually beneficial relationships with community organizations to engage DePaul students in educational opportunities grounded in Vincentian values of respect for human dignity and the quest for social justice.

“At DePaul, we guide our students to think about being change agents and working in their own communities or in other people’s communities to support issues of equity, sustainability and social justice,” Rosing added.

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Media Contact:
Russell Dorn
rdorn@depaul.edu