Office of Public Engagement
About Office of Public Engagement
The Office of Public Engagement's mission is to embrace and foster a culture of trust and engagement that builds mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships. The Office of Public Engagement serves as a bridge between the university and local, state, national, and global communities. By uniting our collective knowledge; discovery; teaching and learning; faculty, staff, and student engagement; and public goods, civically engaged citizens are enriched and empowered to cultivate vibrant, safe, just, healthy, and resilient communities that create lasting societal impact.
STEM Illinois
STEM Illinois is an inter-generational community-university partnered initiative that fosters STEM learning for all. Housed within the Office of Public Engagement, this program aims to provide unprecedented access to the vast knowledge and resources available at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to local communities.
STEM Saturday is a free monthly event where youth K-12th grade enjoy hands- on STEM activities led by instructors. Participants learn important science topics and build their own science models. Spring 2023 details coming soon.
STEM Illinois Nobel Project provides young people with unprecedented access to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign fulfilling the land-grant mission.
Inclusive Innovation in the Sciences
A Blueprint for Investment + Impact
The work of PI 2 will be guided by one bold vision and four strategies that can be adapted by PI 2 members to inform place-based planning in areas of institutional priorities in the sciences. These four strategies reflect the fundamentals – building strong partnerships, improving education, and providing jobs and business opportunities. The framework integrates these fundamentals to better contribute to more inclusive economic growth on the South Side.
- Civic Infrastructure. Build multi-sector collaborations that enable full participation in scientific discovery and investment on the South Side.
- STEM Education. Increase education initiatives that strengthen the STEM ecosystem and connect to career pathways.
- Employment. Create internships, fellowships, and apprenticeships to support career pathways in science, technology, engineering and community economic development.
- Economic Development. Leverage new developments in science and engineering to achieve inclusive economic investment opportunities, Minority Business Enterprise/ Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) business growth, and community wealth creation.