Public Affairs Mission

The University of Notre Dame is engaged, invested, and committed to K-12 education, community development, civic leadership, and government relations. Through its Office of Public Affairs, the University collaborates with the community to create a prosperous and healthy environment in which to live, work and raise a family.

We base our outreach efforts on the Carnegie Classification of Community Engagement: “Community Engagement describes the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities—local, regional/state, national, global—for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.”

We demonstrate our commitment by collaborating with a number of community partners.

Examples of Notre Dame’s outreach, led by staff members Tim Sexton, Jackie Rucker, Jay Caponigro, Jessica Brookshire and Jennifer Knapp Beudert include:

• Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC)
• Community Relations (Notre Dame Downtown)
• Education Collaborative Council (ECC)
• Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO)
• $5.5 Million Economic Initiative

Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on the many ways in which the University of Notre Dame is partnering with our community.

Did You Know?

• Between 2007 and 2010 the University of Notre Dame added 384 full-time positions.
• The Robinson Community Learning Center provided 202 children with 30 hours of tutoring services per child in 2010-11. Reading scores increased 18-20%, with over half of the students increasing site word recognition from 2-5 grade levels.
• During the 2010 – 11 academic year, the Notre Dame Extended Research Community collaborated with more than 100 K-12 teachers and 6600 K-12 students in Michiana. Visits to classrooms included activities in biology and genetics, environmental science, engineering, nanoscience, technology, astrophysics, particle physics and computational science.
• Click here to track Notre Dame’s progress toward our United Way goal.
• Every day, Notre Dame hosts concerts, lectures, exhibits and sporting events that are open to the public. Visit the "Events” page to find events that interest you.

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