The University of Memphis is a frequent collaborator, partner and participant in the Memphis, Shelby County, and Mid-South community. 

Faculty, staff and students work with the larger community to share mutually beneficial resources and ideas. Such community partnerships connect the greater Memphis and Mid-South region with the university to increase community and economic development, individual and collective impact, and a strong sense of place with tremendous social capital. 

Principles of Community Engagement

The University seeks to use knowledge in collaborative service, as highlighted in our strategic plan, “Defining Our Future.”

Throughout the University, faculty and students are participating in a new type of community engagement: one that presents a collaboration between higher education institutions and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.

Such projects engage faculty members and students in a sustained manner with community groups and connect university outreach with community organizational goals.

These activities further productive and mutually beneficial relationships between the community and University students, faculty, and staff.

The results are positive collaborative efforts to solve community problems and need-inspired basic and applied research that delivers excellence in engaged scholarship. 

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men." - Herman Melville.