Strategically Connecting a University to a Community

To further live our mission, Marquette has launched many new initiatives over the past five years that strategically connect our university to our community. In this paper, we will highlight three of these initiatives. The first relates to connecting the anchor institutions in our neighborhood through an effort called Near West Side Partners. The second discusses the creation of a centralized Office of Community Engagement that advances the development, support, and promotion of the research, teaching, and service partnerships between our campus and our community partners. The third initiative, our most recent enterprise, is our Office of Corporate Engagement and Partnerships. All three of these efforts follow through on Ignatius of Loyola’s vision to serve others and collectively make a difference.