The UNMC Office of Community Engagement is inviting UNMC faculty, staff, students and residents to participate in the office’s biannual engagement survey, which seeks individual, not UNMC college or unit responses. The campus community is asked to complete the survey by Friday, May 15.
The Individual Community Engagement Survey gathers information on community engagement activities and partnerships across the organization to better understand the breadth and depth of community activities that faculty, staff, residents and students engage in while representing UNMC. It also measures key community engagement indicators and activities for academic health centers.
Survey results will build on the work that led UNMC to receive the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, one of the highest national honors recognizing an institution’s commitment to community engagement, and achieving a high response rate is important. The information helps connect projects across UNMC, better articulate opportunities to community partners, expand UNMC’s community partner database and will be added to the Office of Institutional Assessment’s dashboard for use in reporting to NU level metrics.
Heidi Keeler, PhD, assistant vice chancellor with the UNMC Office of Community Engagement, urged everyone to participate, regardless of engagement activities, using the survey link. The survey consists of seven key yes/no questions, and for those who engage with community partners, additional items open to further report their efforts.
The current survey, measuring engagement data from Jan. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, is available in Microsoft Teams and accessible to all UNMC users. Once the survey is complete, respondents can save and use the survey answers as a reference to augment the service component for annual evaluations.
The survey collects information on five types of community engagement – community engaged advocacy, education, research, clinical work and service, as well as more specific information about partnerships. Community engagement aligns with the university’s ITEACH (Innovation, Teamwork, Excellence, Accountability, Courage and Healing) values, Dr. Keeler said.
For access to past report data, or for questions related to the survey, email the UNMC Office of Community Engagement.