Strategy 9 - Rationale

Establish USF as a national model for a university fully engaged with its local, national, and global communities.

An engaged university is one that views itself as an integral part of its community and encourages and supports local, national, and global involvement on the part of faculty and students. Engagement goes beyond the traditional community service contributions that have previously accrued from the primary mission of universities. An engaged institution actively works in partnership with its external communities to develop, apply and disseminate knowledge, test theories, and address critical health, economic, social, educational, cultural, environmental, and technological issues. Engaged universities involve community members and faculty in a two-way interactive partnership in which the input of each partner is valued. As an urban institution, USF can serve as the hub in a knowledge-based society in which various communities are involved in all phases of the knowledge process, as opposed to traditional models of universities as dispensers of knowledge in a one-way process. A fully engaged university is one that integrates teaching, research, and service into a delivery approach that involves its constituents and responds to the needs of diverse communities. As such, USF will distinguish itself as an institution in which students can become leaders who are better prepared to respond effectively to the complex issues of the society they will enter by promoting social responsibility and action.