By Institutional Communications
Universidad del Sagrado Corazón has renewed the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for the fifth time. This distinction, granted by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, recognizes the University’s institutional commitment to an education that integrates service-learning, civic engagement, leadership, and community partnerships as essential components of its academic curriculum.
Currently, a total of 277 universities in the United States hold this elective classification, with Sagrado being the only one in Puerto Rico to have earned it consecutively since 2008.
“Sagrado reaffirms its mission and tradition of community service by receiving this important distinction. Our faculty and students have completed thousands of hours developing impactful projects directly connected to the needs and opportunities identified by our communities,” stated Dr. Anuchka Ramos-Ruiz, provost and executive vice president for Academic and Student Affairs at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón.
She noted that 28 years ago, the University established the Center for Community Engagement as part of its service-learning initiative. The Center’s mission is to identify community organizations, microenterprises, agencies, and corporations with social responsibility initiatives whose needs can be supported through Sagrado’s academic courses.
In 2025, a total of 632 students and 25 faculty members participated in 122 service-learning projects, dedicating 11,100 hours to 41 community organizations. One of the projects with the greatest social impact is the long-standing monitoring of water quality in the Caño Martín Peña by microbiology students, which has been conducted since the program’s inception nearly three decades ago. Students from film and journalism courses have also documented community struggles and collective memory through documentaries and reports published in national and alternative media.
Other examples of community engagement include health clinics, marketing and advertising campaigns, coordination of fundraising events and community celebrations, as well as recreational activities developed in collaboration with partner organizations and communities.
The Elective Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is valid through 2032. In addition to this distinction, the University of the Sacred Heart is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).