Greetings,

Welcome to the 2021-2022 edition of the Michigan State University Community-Engaged Learning Index. We are pleased to share these important community-engaged learning data and inspirational stories. This report represents information shared by MSU faculty, staff, and students about their student community-engaged learning courses, programs, events, and service. Together with local, regional, and global community partners, Spartans are contributing to strong communities and a better future for all.

For the first time ever, Michigan State University was ranked number 2 among all public institutions of higher education in the United States for Service-Learning by the US News and World Report College Rankings Report. It is evident by the information shared in this report that community-engaged learning is a core part of the Spartan experience. For the 2021-2022 academic year, there were 27,164 student community-engaged learning registrations. Of those registrations, 33% (8,978) participated in community-engaged learning as part of an academic course or program and 67% (18,186) participated in co-curricular community service and engagement.

With our mission of preparing students for lifelong civic and social responsibility, the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) explored new partnerships and offered new programs in ways that address equity and justice. We are particularly proud of the MSU community for coming together for the MSU Stuff the Library Book Drive as part of our Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration. Together with campus and community partners, we invited Spartans to imagine, through philanthropy, a world where all children can see themselves in the pages of a book. To address the lack of such books in school libraries and youth-serving organizations, funds were raised to share over 1,200 books—purchased from black and female-owned independent bookstores—that promote a diverse representation of people and topics with children and youth in the Detroit Public Schools.

In an effort to assure that faculty support for community-engaged learning is relevant and useful, our center offered a new learning community focused on community-engaged partnerships, critical reflection, culturally relevant pedagogy, community-engaged course design, the student experience, and assessment. Working together over the course of the academic year, faculty and Center team members offered a Community-Engaged Learning Comprehensive Experience Mini-Conference. Sessions highlighted campus practitioners and focused on course design, community partnerships, and orienting students to enter a community with knowledge of identity, equity, and privilege, while highlighting diverse reflection strategies. The conference was well-attended and is certain to become an ongoing center offering.

Thank you to the students, faculty, staff, and community partners whose stories appear in this edition of the Index. Your efforts are inspiring, your dedication is appreciated, and the impact of your engagement is lasting. To the readers of this report, we invite you to join these outstanding partners in working to address inequity and injustice through community-engaged learning.

Sincerely,