Featured event
Publicly Engaged Solutions to 21st Century Societal Grand Challenges — Illinois Leadership and Innovation
2026 Public Engagement Summit
Office of the Chancellor
Office of Public Engagement
National Recognition
Carnegie classification
Illinois is nationally recognized through the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, reflecting the university’s sustained commitment to reciprocal partnerships, institutional integration, and measurable public impact across research, teaching, and service.
Office of Public Engagement
Mission Statement:
The Office of Public Engagement's mission is to embrace and foster a culture of trust and engagement that builds mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships. The Office of Public Engagement serves as a bridge between the university and local, state, national, and global communities. By uniting our collective knowledge; discovery; teaching and learning; faculty, staff, student, and community engagement; and public goods, civically engaged citizens are enriched and empowered to cultivate vibrant, safe, just, healthy, and resilient communities that create lasting societal impact.
Public Engagement Definition:
Drawing from the definition used by the Carnegie Classification, as well as other, definitions we
define public engagement as:
i. Public engagement involves faculty, staff, student, and community members drawing on their expertise to address or respond to societal problems, concerns,
issues, or interests to contribute to the public good.
ii. Public engagement often occurs in collaboration with public or private communities at the local, state, national, or
international level.
iii. For the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.
iv. To the extent that they encapsulate the key concepts outlined here, a variety of other terms, such as “civic
scholarship”, “community partnerships”, “innovation and entrepreneurship engagement”, “outreach”, “public-facing
scholarship”, “public service”, “social innovation”, and “technology transfer”, may be considered public engagement in
the context of research, teaching, or service.
About the Office of Public Engagement:
In October of 2021, the Office of Public Engagement was established as a formal
entity in the Office of the Chancellor. The establishment of this entity reflects the recognition of the need for a robust campuswide
public engagement presence – locally and beyond. Also, this entity is well aligned with Goal 3 of the Next 150 strategic plan:
MAKE A SIGNIFICANT AND VISIBLE SOCIETAL IMPACT.
News & announcements
Timely updates, recognitions, and upcoming events.
Office of Public Engagement
iExplore Illinois: Host a campus visit
iExplore Illinois collaborates with campus units to provide K–12 students meaningful exposure to the University of Illinois through structured campus visits. Experiences may include tours, demonstrations, and hands-on activities that showcase the breadth of campus offerings.
Emerging Community Leaders @ Illinois (ECL@IL): Applications open
Ready to deepen your community impact? Applications open February 23 for the next ECL@IL cohort.
New to volunteering or community service?
Start with our Finding Your Why session. Tuesday, March 3
Building Beyond the Barriers Grant Program
The Campus-Community Compact Grant Program supports partnerships that strengthen community engagement and advance collaborative work across campus and community.
Campuswide
Illinois Science Explorers recognized by Champaign Park District
Family STEM Nights received a Community Partner Award for meaningful community programming.
More infoProgram Highlights:
Campus-Community Compact
The Compact addresses six grand challenge areas to increase opportunities for all:
accessible technology; community relations; economic development; health,
wellness, and resilience; inclusive education; and workforce development.
There are also cross-cutting areas, including accessible campus/ transportation,
accessible information, community safety, and language (e.g., multilingualism,
communications, and messaging). The work of the Compact aligns well with
both the U. of I.'s vision of being a pre-eminent publicly engaged, research intensive,
land-grant university with global impact and goal three of the 2018-2023
Strategic Plan: The Next 150 — Make a Significant and Visible Societal Impact.
We invite you to view our Compact informational booklet to learn more about our work.
Formerly the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign MSI Alliance
The goal of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign AREES is to increase the number of underrepresented students pursuing and obtaining doctoral degrees leading to successful careers in academia and beyond. We aim to build multi-directional partnerships between Illinois and participating Emerging Reserach Institutions (ERIs) and are committed to listening carefully to what current and potential ERI partners believe is needed to build a mutually beneficial and sustainable partnership to achieve this goal.
Institutionalizing Public Engagement
Public engagement is critical to solving some of the world’s most pressing societal challenges (e.g., poverty, hunger, energy security, urban decay, architectural segregation, public health, educational and economic disparity) and has been a hallmark of land-grant institutions like the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The COVID-19 pandemic required us to focus intently on enacting more effective public engagement efforts as we find ways to contribute solutions to today's most pressing and challenging societal issues. As we resume in-person, face-to-face engagement work with communities post-COVID, it is time to identify strategies within our academic units for ensuring high quality partnerships and collaborations in light of the significant developments that have occurred over the few past years.
504 Swanlund Administration Building
601 E. John St., MC-304
Champaign, Illinois 61820
(217) 333-3378