APLU Report Outlines Public Engagement Agenda for Public & Land-Grant Universities

Washington, DC – In an effort to support greater engagement efforts at public and land-grant universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today released a report outlining a public engagement agenda.

The report, Public Purpose, Renewed: Future-Leading Engagement in Higher Education, is a follow-up on engagement efforts since a landmark 1999 Kellogg Commission report called on public and land-grant universities to reimagine their role in society.

Public Purpose, Renewed traces the trajectory of engagement work at public and land-grant universities over the past two and a half decades from isolated efforts led by individuals toward focused, institution-wide commitments that are key to the mission of these institutions.

“Public and land-grant universities are vital problem solvers in the community,” said APLU President Waded Cruzado. “Their campuses are home to some of the brightest minds in the world, with students, faculty, and researchers who are dedicated to tackling stubborn problems and advancing the public good. We’re delighted to release new research sharing the breadth of public and land-grant universities’ engagement efforts and offering recommendations on how institutions can further increase the impact of their engagement.”

The report released today also outlines engagement imperatives for future-leading, engaged universities:

• Strategic, Trust-Centered Engagement: Reflecting institutional alignment to make positive public impact through their mission, strategic plans, and leadership priorities.

• Demonstrated Public Value: Positioning their institutions as collaborative and dependable problem solvers that promote reciprocal partnerships and translational research—mobilizing alumni, faculty, staff, and students to serve as ambassadors for change in partnership with community stakeholders.

• Data-Informed Cultures Toward Continuous Impact: Ensuring they are making continuous public impact by committing to ethical data gathering processes, improving access to evidence-based resources, and communicating transparently through data-sharing on factors that community stakeholders feel are relevant and influential.

• Collaborative and Adaptive Institutional Identities: Embedding themselves deeply into their local/regional context, reflecting and reinforcing their place-based identity through community-strengthening infrastructure and community-informed initiatives that are responsive to the economic, evolving market, and workforce realities relevant to the places they serve.

The 1999 Kellogg Commission called on public and land-grant universities to become more responsively connected to the needs of their communities by integrating engagement into their core functions of teaching, research, and service.