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Campus Wide Centers:

Organizational and Staffing Structure 

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Overview for Campus Wide Centers

Campus-wide centers for community and civic engagement today are an important unit for building and sustaining the engagement of students, faculty, staff, and institutional assets within broader communities. This section is designed to help campus leaders and Bonner staff design, locate, and staff centers that support sustained, campus-wide engagement. It offers an overview of national trends, reporting lines, and best practices drawn from Bonner’s 2024 benchmarking survey and national research on community engagement centers.

Introduction to Campus-Wide Centers

The Bonner Foundation has long championed the creation of campus-wide infrastructure that coordinates co-curricular and curricular community engagement. In the mid-1980s, as the movement for campus–community engagement gathered steam, few institutions had dedicated offices for such work. Over the following decades, national organizations such as Campus Compact, Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL), Learn & Serve America, and AmeriCorps helped campuses build centers and offices focused on community and civic engagement. By 2014, Campus Compact’s member survey reported that nearly all campuses responding (423 institutions) had at least one office or center coordinating curricular and/or co-curricular engagement, and over half reported more than one unit supporting this work.

Today, Bonner campuses can assume that some form of center either exists or is emerging. The central question is how to locate, staff, and structure that center so it advances student learning, institutional goals, and community impact. Despite some debate in the field about the roles of centers, having an established campus center that can house multiple programs and coordinate sustained community partnerships and projects is critical for quality. Many institutions have founded and developed Bonner Programs as a stepping stone to this structure. Robust centers generally have:

• Full-time staff (with at least one full-time person for every part-time program that engages 40 students)
• A range of student programs and leadership roles
• Strategies for engaging faculty and connecting to curriculum
• A clear role as a resource and partner for community organizations
  
  

In the Bonner Network, centers often developed alongside programs, with reporting lines shifting over time. In the early 1990s, many programs and centers were located in Chaplain’s offices or religious life. By the early 2000s, most had moved into Student Affairs. As centers took on more work with faculty and curriculum, many then transitioned to Academic Affairs.

Bonner’s 2024 benchmarking survey found that:

• 60% of centers report to Academic Affairs or the Provost’s Office
• 33% report to Student Affairs
• A small number report directly to the President’s Office

These data reflect broader national trends, often influenced by external measures of quality like the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. Campus Compact’s 2014 member survey found that among its members:

• 40% reported to Academic Affairs
• 37% to Student Affairs
• 8% to both Academic and Student Affairs
• 6% to the President’s Office

In a 2013 study of institutions that had earned the Carnegie Classification, a marker of external validation for engaged campuses, Welch and Saltmarsh found that 83% of centers reported to Academic Affairs or were in the process of moving there. For Bonner campuses, this suggests that locating the center near academic leadership—and building strong ties to Student Affairs—positions the work for long-term institutionalization.

Reporting Lines 

Where a center “lives” on campus shapes its resources, influence, and partnerships. Use this section to understand the strengths and tradeoffs of different reporting lines and to prepare for conversations with senior leaders.

Academic Affairs (Departments, Curriculum, Majors, and Faculty)

Academic Affairs, generally led by the Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs, or Provost, oversees departments, centers, and units that offer academic coursework. As community engagement has become more integrated with curriculum—through courses, credit-bearing projects, and capstones—many centers have moved under Academic Affairs. An Academic Affairs reporting line was also identified as one of the Top Ten essential components for strong community engagement centers. Whether your center reports to Academic Affairs or not, it is important that the Bonner Program and center:

• Integrate community engagement with curriculum through formal courses, credit-bearing projects, and other mechanisms
• Build and maintain ongoing relationships with faculty and departments
• Offer training and educational development for faculty, including connections with partners and support for logistics, reflection, and student leadership structures
• Connect to high-impact educational practices and learning outcomes, including assessment and capstones
• Support pathways for Engaged Signature Work—significant culminating projects with a community engagement dimension, aligned with broader efforts such as AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative

If your center reports to Academic Affairs, focus on:

• Formal curricular pathways (courses, minors, certificates, capstones) that feature community engagement
• Regular relationship-building with department chairs and key faculty
• Faculty development (workshops, cohorts, course design support)
• Using student learning outcomes and assessment data to make the case for continued investment

Student Affairs (Residence Life, Clubs & Organizations, Student Support)

Student Affairs is also concerned with the education of the whole student, with a focus on co-curricular learning and what happens outside of class. Some centers for engagement fall under Student Affairs or Student Life, which tend to oversee:

• Residential life and housing
• Dining services
• Counseling, health, and wellness
• Career services
• Multicultural education, diversity, and international programs (in some cases)
• Campus security and related units

Centers for civic and community engagement can align powerfully with Student Affairs by:

• Collaborating on a campus-wide developmental model for student learning, often in partnership with Academic Affairs and faculty
• Building shared training and leadership development structures for students across units, linked to student learning outcomes, transcript recognition, or e-portfolios
• Creating seamless relationships and handoffs between offices that support student engagement and learning—for example, coordinating with Resident Advisors (RAs) so students who participate in one-time projects can move into ongoing programs and pathways

If your center reports to Student Affairs, focus on:

• Co-curricular leadership pathways and strong student development models
• Training RAs and student leaders to connect students to ongoing engagement opportunities
• Collaborating with wellness, diversity, and identity-based offices to support students holistically
• Building clear bridges between co-curricular engagement and academic pathways

Senior Leadership (President, Vice Presidents, Provost) and Cross-Campus Collaboration

Regardless of formal reporting lines, it is critical that the Bonner Program and campus center for community engagement establish strong relationships and communication with institutional senior leaders. Directors should:

• Meet regularly with, and keep informed, the president, provost, and key vice presidents (Student Affairs, Advancement/Development, Financial Aid, Admissions, etc.)
• Align Bonner Scholar and Leader Programs with Admissions and Financial Aid for recruiting, selecting, and packaging students
• Coordinate with Career Services, Spiritual/Religious Life, and other offices for recruitment, training, and ongoing engagement and support

Practical moves with senior leadership:

• Schedule a twice-per-semester briefing with the provost and VP for Student Affairs that includes one data point, one story, and one specific request
• Share a one-page dashboard on student participation, community outcomes, and strategic priorities before annual budget conversations
• Connect center goals with institutional strategic plans, accreditation, and external recognitions (such as the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification)

Organizational Structure

While the Bonner Program may be built and managed out of several different offices, the long-term aim is to develop sustained infrastructure for campus-wide community engagement. This section can support your efforts to build and expand one or more established offices or campus-wide centers. To fully build and sustain campus-wide engagement as well as a strong Bonner Program, a formalized center or office should be able to:

• Build and sustain long-term relationships with community partners (schools, agencies, coalitions)
• Build and sustain specific campus programs for students (including Bonner and non-Bonner programs)
• Ensure that student programs are well managed, staffed, and assessed over time
• Lead fundraising and resource development in collaboration with Advancement and other units
• Serve as a central hub for coordinating external relationships and projects, helping community partners and faculty avoid miscommunications and duplication of effort
• Provide and support faculty development and engagement in community-engaged teaching and scholarship
• Offer training, consultation, and expertise to the campus community on civic and community engagement

The Foundation’s 2024 benchmarking survey found that centers in the Bonner network (46 reporting) had on average four staff, with just under half reporting 2–3 full-time employees. This reflects both the importance of having a core professional team and the reality that many centers must be strategic and creative in how they staff key functions.

When reviewing your organizational structure, consider:

• Which of the functions above you already cover consistently
• Which roles are under-resourced or spread too thin
• Where student leaders, AmeriCorps/VISTA members, and faculty fellows can extend capacity

Best Practices

For the Bonner Program itself, a best practice—and requirement for funded programs—is to have at least one full-time staff person for every 40 Bonner students. Use this as a minimum standard when making the case for staffing.

For campus-wide centers, best practices continue to evolve as the field finds more evidence for the value of service and civic engagement to student success, institutional advancement, and community change. Drawing on a national data set of campuses that have earned the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, Welch and Saltmarsh (2013) identified key components of strong centers. Bonner believes campuses hosting Bonner Scholar and/or Leader Programs should work toward these components in their own centers and infrastructure.

Essential components for strong community engagement centers (Welch & Saltmarsh, 2013):

1. Budgeted institutional funds – Secure recurring institutional funds, not only grant or soft money.
2. Administrative support – Provide dedicated administrative staffing so directors can focus on leadership, partnerships, and strategy.
3. Programming staff – Invest in staff who manage student programs and partnerships day-to-day.
4. Faculty development – Offer regular workshops, course design support, and resources for community-engaged teaching.
5. Faculty leadership/buy-in – Cultivate faculty champions and formal roles (e.g., faculty fellows, faculty directors) for engagement.
6. Student leadership/decision making – Build structured roles for students to plan, lead, and assess programming.
7. Assessment mechanisms and Academic Affairs reporting line – Track outcomes and connect them to institutional learning goals; position the center in or closely connected to Academic Affairs.
8. Database/tracking system and adequate office space – Use reliable systems to track student hours, placements, and partner data; ensure visible, accessible space for the center.
9. Designated community-engaged courses and fundraising mechanisms – Tag and track courses; diversify funding sources through grants, donors, and institutional investments.
10. Transportation coordination and cross-campus collaboration – Make engagement logistically possible (e.g., vans, transportation policies) and foster collaboration across divisions and units.

Use this list as a checklist with your leadership team. Identify which components are already in place, which are emerging, and which need priority investment over the next 1–3 years.

To apply these ideas on your campus, explore related Bonner resources on: 

• Strategic Planning
  
• Funding Your Center
  
• Tracking Systems, and
• Campus-Wide Assessment on the Bonner Network Wiki.

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