1/15/2026

By University Communications

HAYS, Kan - The American Council of Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have officially awarded Fort Hays State University the Community Engagement Classification.

This designation recognizes FHSU’s deep commitment to "partnership and reciprocity," the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources between our university and the communities we serve, whether local or global. This latest Carnegie Classification follows the Leadership for Public Purpose Classification that was awarded to the University in 2024. FHSU is now one of only 11 institutions in the world, and the only institution in Kansas to hold both classifications.

“Earning this second community service-focused Carnegie Community Engagement Classification reaffirms that FHSU is a fully engaged partner with the people, businesses, and communities of Western Kansas,” said FHSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jill Arensdorf. “The awarding of this classification serves as public validation of our Tiger Nation living our mission: we don’t just teach; we develop engaged, global citizen leaders who drive positive and impactful change.”

The Carnegie Foundation’s elective classifications originate in a voluntary application process, where institutions must provide extensive evidence of meeting the standards related to a specific classification area. For FHSU, those areas are community engagement and leadership for public purpose. The review of FHSU’s application was detailed, and reviewers closely examined the quality of the University’s community engagement work, as well as its breadth and depth. The application review process also explored the pervasiveness of community engagement at FHSU and the level of institutional commitment the University has made to integrate these efforts into strategic planning and initiative prioritization.  

FHSU’s Director of Civic Learning and Engagement, and the Voss Distinguished Professor of Leadership, Dr. Lori Kniffin, expressed gratitude to the many FHSU and community stakeholders whose daily collaboration makes this work possible. Kniffin plans to turn this recognition into the catalyst that will fuel the impactful work that lies ahead at FHSU.

“Community engagement is a major element of Goal 5 (Impactful Partnerships) of our 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, and we will utilize the Assessment Rubric for Institutionalizing Community Engagement framework as the structure to sustain and grow our impact across rural Kansas,” Kniffin said.

About the Carnegie Classifications

The Carnegie Classifications are the nation’s leading framework for categorizing and describing colleges and universities in the United States. Utilized frequently by policymakers, funders, and researchers, the Classifications are a critical benchmarking tool for postsecondary institutions. ACE and the Carnegie Foundation announced a partnership in February 2022 to reimagine the Classifications to better reflect the diversity of postsecondary institutions and more completely characterize the impact that today’s institutions have in society.

About ACE

ACE is a membership organization that leads higher education with a united vision for the future, galvanizing our members to make change and collaborating across the sector to design solutions for today’s challenges, serve the needs of a diverse student population, and shape effective public policy. As the major coordinating body for the nation’s colleges and universities, our strength lies in our diverse membership of nearly 1,600 colleges and universities, related associations, and other organizations in America and abroad. ACE is the only major higher education association to represent all types of U.S. accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities. For more information, please visit www.acenet.edu or follow ACE on X @ACEducation and LinkedIn.

About the Carnegie Foundation

The mission of the Carnegie Foundation is to catalyze transformational change in education so that every student has the opportunity to live a healthy, dignified, and fulfilling life. Enacted by an act of Congress in 1906, the Foundation has a rich history of driving transformational change in the education sector, including the establishment of TIAA-CREF and the creation of the Education Testing Service, the GRE, Pell Grants, and the Carnegie Classifications for Higher Education. Today, the Foundation is dedicated to the transformation of the American high school and making the postsecondary sector a more vital engine for economic mobility.

About Fort Hays State University

Fort Hays State University was founded in 1902 as the Western Branch of Kansas State Normal School on the grounds of Fort Hays, a 19th-century frontier military outpost located on the high plains of North-Central Kansas. FHSU is a regional comprehensive public university where approximately 13,000 students pursue their educational goals on campus, online, and at partner campuses in Africa and Asia. FHSU is an innovative community of teacher-scholars and education professionals that excels at developing engaged global citizen-leaders through affordable, flexible, challenging, and innovative academic and co-curricular programs designed to push the boundaries of knowledge and human experiences.

Through an affiliation partnership with Fort Hays Tech | North Central and Fort Hays Tech| Northwest, Fort Hays institutions serve close to 15,000 students and work closely to advance economic prosperity for the people, businesses, and communities of rural Kansas.