Executive Summary

UNC Greensboro Chancellor Franklin Gilliam signed the Campus Compact 30th Anniversary Action Statement in early 2016.  In conjunction with leaders of more than 400 other postsecondary institutions, Chancellor Gilliam committed to the integration of civic action ideals into the fabric of UNC Greensboro, through this Civic Action Plan, and through incorporation into the University’s new strategic plan.  The Anniversary Action Statement included a pledge to, “move forward with a renewed sense of urgency, along with the impacts we expect to achieve.”  This plan demonstrates what UNC Greensboro expects to achieve with our commitment to prepare students for citizenship, to build partnerships for change, and to focus our institution on the public good which is inherent in higher education.

This plan is founded on the principles outlined in the Campus Compact 30^th Anniversary Action Statement, which include:

• We empower our students, faculty, staff, and community partners to co-create mutually respectful partnerships in pursuit of a just, equitable, and sustainable future for communities beyond the campus—nearby and around the world.
• We prepare our students for lives of engaged citizenship, with the motivation and capacity to deliberate, act, and lead in pursuit of the public good.
• We embrace our responsibilities as place based institutions, contributing to the health and strength of our communities—economically, socially, environmentally, educationally, and politically.
• We harness the capacity of our institutions—through research, teaching, partnerships, and institutional practice—to challenge the prevailing social and economic inequalities that threaten our democratic future.
• We foster an environment that consistently affirms the centrality of the public purposes of higher education by setting high expectations for members of the campus community to contribute to their achievement.

UNC Greensboro is an institution firmly committed to a community-engaged approach.  We are focused on, and guided by, reciprocal, cross-sector, and interdisciplinary partnerships for mutual benefit.  Our commitment to mutual benefit is at the heart of any institutional strategy that pursues academic excellence in the forms of student transformation, knowledge transformation, and regional transformation. Amidst growing social, economic, and health inequalities; increased global connections; and rapid change, engagement becomes a strategic and synergistic way to address complex and often “wicked problems” that defy simple solutions.