Basil Safi is the executive director of Cornell’s David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement.
Walk across campus today, and you'll encounter something remarkable: 85% of seniors have worked directly with community partners during their time at Cornell. And, the first-year Class of 2029? By the time they graduate, all of them will have had a meaningful community-engaged learning experience. This isn't by accident — it's by design.
As executive director of Cornell's David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, I've watched this institutional transformation unfold over the past decade, starting in 2016 when campus participation in community-engaged learning was just 15%. What launched as a bold experiment to increase CEL for undergraduates has become Cornell's new standard: the ubiquity of high quality community-engaged learning experiences, regardless of major or affinity group.
This monumental change comes at a crucial moment for higher education. As universities face declining public trust and questions about their relevance, Cornell is proving that academic excellence and community impact aren't competing priorities — they're mutually reinforcing.
As retired chief of the City of Ithaca Fire Department, Rob Covert ’89, said, “Anytime that members of the community and Cornell students have a chance to interact, it helps break through barriers of stereotypes, ultimately fostering more understanding and empathy.”
Covert’s words hold relevance for this moment in time and for the career trajectories of students who participate in CEL while attending Cornell. A recent study of Cornell alumni showed that the highest-rated long-term outcomes for students who experienced CEL included better participation in a group or organization, supporting communities and the ability to articulate one’s beliefs and values.
Community-engaged learning is more than one-off volunteer shifts. It's a rigorous methodology where students contribute to long-term partnerships with organizations to address pressing challenges, integrate those experiences with academic content and reflect critically on what they've learned. The key difference? Students aren't just applying knowledge — they're creating it alongside community partners who bring expertise and context that classroom experiences can't replicate.
One powerful example is seen in how CEL appears in addressing arguably the most pressing challenge of our time: climate change. Beyond the research that Cornell conducts, its ability to create more climate change learning opportunities for undergrads is important to properly leverage scientific, policy and infrastructure innovations around the world. Look no further than Finger Lakes ReUse, an Ithaca-based non-profit collaborating with six colleges to provide CEL experiences that allow Cornell students to help create a marketable path to allow materials to be repurposed, instead of being landfilled or incinerated. In the Fall 2025 semester alone, 197 Cornell students participated in ReUse’s programs and operations, and an additional 42 students worked on related academic research projects.
Ayon Dutta ’27 said that one of the most rewarding aspects of their role with ReUse was “contributing to this larger organization that has this overarching goal of community growth and the idea of a circular economy.” This experience provided “market research and pricing experience, judgement, decision making skills, written communication, time management,” all skills that Dutta says will be important for his career.
The results extend beyond individual student development and also reflect the growth of trust among partners and the University as we work shoulder-to-shoulder rather than in an extractive way. Our community partners report 90% satisfaction with Cornell collaborations, but more importantly, they're seeing concrete outcomes.
And the timing matters a great deal as our society grows more polarized. Cornell graduates enter the workforce equipped with something increasingly rare: They’re lifelong learners and leaders with a public purpose who practice respect and empathy, seek collaboration, equity and creativity and embrace differences and build belonging.
For current students, this means your Cornell experience includes opportunities your peers at other institutions may never encounter. For faculty, it means your expertise reaches beyond academic circles to create tangible change. For our broader community, it means Cornell's land-grant mission — to put knowledge to work for the public good — remains as relevant today as when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862.
CEL is Cornell honoring Ezra's vision of "... any person ... any study" while preparing you for a world that demands both expertise and the wisdom to apply it responsibly. That's not just the future of higher education — it's the shared future we're building together, one partnership at a time.
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