The Office of Community Engagement

Our Mission in Practice

The Office of Community Engagement is deeply rooted in the mission of Emmanuel College and our Catholic identity. Our commitment to community, social responsibility, is reflected in our programming and initiatives aimed at strengthening relationships and fostering a community grounded in inclusion, respect, and shared purpose.

By advancing collaboration with both internal and external partners, we work to make Emmanuel a place where students, faculty, and staff genuinely belong — cultivating meaningful connections and fostering transformative opportunities that promote belonging and collective growth across campus.

Guided by our four tenets — Student Development Leadership and Engagement, Faculty and Staff Success, People and Culture, and Partnership and Community Engagement — we are committed to fostering a scholarly and socially responsive environment. Our work embodies a deliberate and strategic approach to community engagement, emphasizing reciprocal relationships and civic responsibility. Through these efforts, we advance a shared vision for a more inclusive and interconnected global society.

Our Team & Our Work

Meet the people behind the OCE—and explore the programs, partnerships, and events that bring our mission to life.

What We Do

From campus conversations to citywide service initiatives, our programs and events invite all members of the Emmanuel community to connect, engage, and grow together.

Who We Are

The Community Engagement team works collaboratively across campus and with external partners to support Emmanuel’s shared commitment to inclusion, connection, and social responsibility.

Our Four Tenets

Student Development, Leadership, and Engagement 

We provide educational and experiential learning opportunities that nurture the intellectual, social, and emotional growth of our students.

Faculty and Staff Success, Engagement, and Development: 

We support faculty and staff by advancing scholarship, promoting professional learning, and centering research and innovation.

People and Culture

In collaboration with Human Resources, we create and manage policies, programs, and initiatives that promote a positive, inclusive work environment where every community member can thrive.

Partnership and Community Engagement

We develop and strengthen relationships with local and national partners to bring greater value and service to the Office of Community Engagement and Emmanuel College as a whole.

The Office of Community Engagement organizes its work around four commitments: student development, faculty and staff success, an inclusive workplace culture, and partnerships that connect Emmanuel to the surrounding community. Together they cover both who the office serves — students, faculty, and staff — and how, through both internal culture work and external partnerships.

Some do, as a distinct function from recruitment or job placement. At Emmanuel, partnership-building is one of the Office of Community Engagement's four core commitments — its role is specifically to connect the college to organizations and partners beyond campus, independent of admissions or career-services functions.

It covers more than student service. Alongside student development, the office's commitments explicitly include faculty and staff success and workplace culture — meaning its work is aimed at the whole campus community, not just student-facing volunteer programs.

Community-engagement offices vary in scope — some focus purely on outward-facing service, others on internal culture. Emmanuel's Office of Community Engagement is built to do both: student development and partnerships facing outward, faculty/staff success and workplace culture facing inward.