Office of Community Impact and Engagement

"Building a more connected, empowered, and sustainable world—together."

The SEAS Office of Community Impact and Engagement embodies two of the five core values that guide our school’s mission: community and impact. These values were identified through a collaborative process in the creation of the SEAS Strategic Vision (2024) and are central to how we engage, learn, and drive change.

The other three SEAS core values—respect, collaboration, and sustainability—are equally vital in shaping a thriving, inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered. In partnership with the Faculty Director of Community Impact and Engagement, these values guide our work in bringing together diverse perspectives and capable minds to tackle the complex challenges facing our school, society and the environment. They also inspire us to nurture the next generation of leaders, fostering curiosity, innovation, and the skills needed to create transformative solutions.

Our commitment to impact is rooted in the belief that meaningful change is both mutual and community-driven. True progress emerges from reciprocal relationships—where learning, growth, and transformation flow in all directions. By fostering partnerships built on respect, shared purpose, and deep community connections, we cultivate a dynamic exchange that strengthens both people and the planet while also challenging and evolving our own perspectives and practices.

The Office of Community Impact and Engagement is dedicated to:

Fostering a Welcoming and Supportive Community
Ensuring that all SEAS students, faculty, staff, and partners feel respected, supported, and included.
Expanding Perspectives and Opportunities
Providing experiences that allow students, faculty, staff, and partners to learn, adapt, and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Enhancing SEAS’ Impact
Strengthening the positive impact SEAS can have in Michigan, across the nation and around the globe by helping to create a SEAS community that reflects the range of views and lived experiences of those off-campus communities we work with.
Uplifting Voices and Empowering Ideas
Creating spaces for dialogue, giving voice and expression to all viewpoints and supporting students in achieving and implementing their visions for change.
Cultivating a Culture of Collaboration
Fostering an atmosphere of meaningful connections, exposure to new ideas, and utilizing restorative approaches that empowers progress and helps lead to greater impact in creating a more sustainable world.
Advancing Community-Centered Solutions
Promote learning about the value of community and what it brings to being effective in pursuit of a more sustainable world that values fairness and solutions that bring benefit to all in society the solutions affect.

At SEAS, we believe in generating and enhancing the following:

REPRESENTATION: Address acute and systemic obstacles to full, equitable, and inclusive representation among SEAS faculty, staff, and students—especially with regard to racial and gender identity.

AWARENESS: Decolonize SEAS curricula, pedagogy, engagement, and professional learning, so that marginalized perspectives are featured, systemic oppression is not perpetuated, and no one is excluded from learning and collaborating by virtue of their identity.

RESEARCH: Align research processes, priorities and outputs with communities and stakeholders, to ensure that SEAS research centers equitable and positive social impact rather than academic prestige and extractive behavior.

SUPPORT: Develop mechanisms and norms for providing regular support—including physical, mental, and financial health—to all SEAS community members, acknowledging that everyone has different needs.

COMMUNICATION: Work to design transparent communication systems and foster dialogue in which everyone feels safe, biased language is not affirmed, and everyone feels comfortable sharing different understandings.