At the University of Dayton, community engagement isn’t a program housed in a single office or a box checked on a strategic plan. It’s a way of being — woven into classrooms, research projects and relationships that stretch from campus into neighborhoods across Dayton and far beyond.
That depth of commitment was affirmed in January when UD was named — for the second time — a recipient of the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, placing the University among just 277 institutions nationwide recognized for their partnership-driven approach to working with the community.
“I think one of our greatest successes is how community engagement at UD is deeply tied to our Marianist mission,” said Samantha Tsuleff Kennedy ’12, director of community engagement assessment. “It happens across campus in a variety of deep and meaningful ways.”
Students, faculty and staff bring this mission to life through hundreds of hands-on programs like the Health Engagement Fellows program offering internships and mentoring; the Urban Teacher Academy, which prepares education students for teaching in urban schools; ETHOS, which pairs engineering students with community partners to solve problems in the real world; and more.
Together, these partnerships — local and global — reflect UD’s call to learn, lead and serve, advancing social justice and working toward the common good.
Teachers in Dayton Public Schools, traditional Mexican folklórico dancers, homeless youth advocates, premedicine majors, biologists, religious leaders, hydro-engineers in Ecuador, NASA engineers, local farmers, women’s shelter volunteers, public health officials, small business owners, conservation scientists, government contractors, Spanish teachers, local host families and more.
Partnering on local fishery infrastructure projects, facilitating access to preventative health care alongside Indigenous leaders, collaborating on community-led food security initiatives like groceries and gardens, co-developing bilingual educational materials, assisting with student wellness screenings, connecting survivors of domestic violence with support, sourcing help for youth experiencing housing instability, providing literacy support, working on cooperative housing construction and more.
The roads of El Camino de Santiago in Spain, a public school classroom, a Miami Valley Hospital bedside, the streets of Dayton’s Five Oaks Neighborhood, Dayton City Hall, a field in Guatemala, a greenhouse at Old River Park, a church pew, a schoolhouse in Ghana, a marine wildlife lab in South Carolina, the banks of the Great Miami River, Mission of Mary farm, a community kitchen and a co-op grocery store on Salem Avenue and more.
Countless moments, every semester: ETHOS trips in the spring, ethics and leadership internships over the summer, Center for Social Concern summer immersions, food drives around the holidays, student organizations volunteering on school nights and more.
“The University of Dayton’s distinct servant-leader approach to partnerships is significant because our University colleagues don’t just work in the community; they work with us as a humble partner, honoring local expertise to solve our region’s most pressing challenges,” said Stacy Wall Schweikhart ’99, CEO of Learn to Earn Dayton, one of UD’s partnership organizations. “UD recognizes their success is inseparable from our community’s flourishing, and they consistently align University resources to move beyond campus and into the neighborhood.”
Decades of cultivating relationships with community partners through UD’s community engagement and co-curricular centers (Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, Human Rights Center, Center for Social Concern, Center for Catholic Education, Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, ETHOS Center, Hanley Sustainability Institute, etc.) together with community-minded coursework. UD now offers 286 community-engaged courses per year, and nearly 75% of academic departments include them, expanding partnerships and deepening connections.
A version of this article appears in print in the Spring 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 17. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE