When the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named Cal State San Bernardino to its 2024 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement cohort, the university was one of 40 nationwide – and the only California State University – to make the list.

Two years later, 10 CSU campuses joined CSUSB, along with 227 others in the country, on the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement list.

For the past 19 years, the classification has been the leading framework for institutional assessment and recognition of community engagement in U.S. higher education. The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is awarded following a process of self-study by each institution.

“The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification reflects CSUSB’s role in transforming lives by connecting student learning to community priorities,” said Lúa López Perez, Office of Community Engaged Learning faculty director. “Through meaningful community-engaged learning experiences, CSUSB students gain career-ready skills while giving back to the region they call home. Such experiences prepare them to be highly skilled professionals, engaged civic leaders, and future agents of positive change.”

Added Kelly Campbell, vice provost for Academic Affairs, “Community engagement is central to the university’s mission, and the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification affirms that. At CSUSB, we are creating high-quality, community-engaged learning opportunities that are academically rigorous, mutually beneficial, and deeply connected to our students’ growth as scholars and professionals. We are creating the future leaders for our region!”

CSUSB’s current classification is for five years, and it will reapply for classification in 2029. The university previously renewed its classification in 2008 and 2015, receiving six-year designations each time.

Joining CSUSB this year are CSU campuses Channel Islands, Chico, Fresno, Monterey Bay​, Northridge, Sacramento​, San Diego, San Francisco, San Marcos​ and Stanislaus.

“Higher education is a vital economic engine for us all. Our colleges and universities not only fuel science and innovation, they build prosperity in rural, urban and suburban communities nationwide,” said Timothy F.C. Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation. “We celebrate each of these institutions, particularly their dedication to partnering with their neighbors — fostering civic engagement, building useable knowledge, and catalyzing real world learning experiences for students.”

Of the institutions recognized in 2026, 48 are receiving the classification for the first time, while 189 have previously held it. The 2026 cohort includes a diverse range of institutions, with 157 public institutions, 80 private colleges and universities, and 81 Minority Serving Institutions represented among the recipients.

“The institutions receiving the 2026 Community Engagement Classification exemplify American higher education’s commitment to the greater good,” said American Council on Education President Ted Mitchell. “The beneficiaries of this unflagging dedication to public purpose missions are their students, their teaching and research enterprises, and their wider communities.”

For the CSU, the Carnegie classification also reflects the goals set forth in its new strategic plan, CSU Forward, which calls for leveraging partnerships to achieve specific outcomes that could not be accomplished through internal resources alone. The CSU is following through on this goal to identify and build external relationships that directly advance student success, financial sustainability, system reputation and operational effectiveness.