Created by the Office of the Provost in 2000, the Office of University-Community Partnerships is becoming Emory’s centralized resource for integrating teaching and research with service to benefit the greater Atlanta community and beyond.

Click here for more information on the history of the OUCP.

Created by the Office of the Provost in 2000, the Office of University-Community Partnerships is charged with integrating teaching and research at Emory with service to benefit the greater Atlanta community and beyond. The OUCP works closely with Volunteer Emory and dozens of other entities to create a continuum of engaged learning, research and service opportunities for students at Emory.

The OUCP connects and supports the many academically-oriented community-benefiting activities taking place throughout the nine academic units and the myriad centers, programs, departments, and organizations of Emory. The OUCP also serves as an easily accessible and highly responsive centralized point of first contact for community groups, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies seeking Emory’s intellectual assistance.

Engaged Scholarship, Research, and Learning. These words define the kind of higher education Emory provides and they also describe the purpose of Emory as an institution. Emory’s mission simply stated is this: “To create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.”

Emory’s recently published Strategic Plan: Where Courageous Inquiry Leads focuses in large part on engaged scholarship, research, and learning:  the ways knowledge creation and knowledge transmission can and must be made relevant and useful to real people in real communities in real time.

Buoyed by a $2 million investment of Emory Strategic Theme funds in 2006, the OUCP now is being positioned as one of the driving forces for Preparing Engaged Scholarship, Research, and Learning at Emory. The guide for the next phases of this work and for the growth of the OUCP is called Transformations: A Blueprint for Engaging Emory in Scholarship and Learning in Service to the Community, (Click here for a PDF of this document.), which was produced by an advisory board chaired by Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander and reporting to Emory Provost Earl Lewis.

The OUCP has four key strategies for creating a continuum of engaged scholarship, research and learning opportunities for Emory faculty, students, staff and community partners:

1) Build the capacity of faculty, staff, and students across Emory’s nine academic units to understand community sensitivities and to leverage the most appropriate strategies for mutually rewarding partnerships.

2) Connect academic coursework with community-based service, creating opportunities for students not only to contribute to the resolution of real world problems but also to discover and refine their personal talents, skills, and career aspirations.

3) Focus faculty and student research on pressing local concerns, not only to tangibly improve the quality of life today, but also to advance the body of knowledge needed for sustaining positive change tomorrow.

4) Build the capacity of local entities to respond effectively to community needs and to serve as places where aspiring students gain experience necessary to become successful leaders and skilled professionals working lifelong for the greater good.

The OUCP’s dedicated staff and faculty affiliates are well-known, passionate experts in their fields. Click here for faculty and staff bios.