In any community-campus partnership, the role of the university is to address community-identified needs and enhance community well-being in a way that is deep, pervasive, and integrated. The university’s imperative is to function within the cultural, linguistic, and generational context of the community and to receive the community’s guidance in building a mutually beneficial partnership over time.

Utilizing the Carnegie Community Engagement Framework, this session explores how institutions can demonstrate a deep commitment to excellence in community engagement. Using California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) as a model for creating positive community impact through meaningful, long-term partnerships, this panel highlights how higher education institutions and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community-based partners have remained grounded in reciprocity, mutual respect, shared authority, and the co-creation of goals and outcomes.

One such example is the partnership between CSUSM and the Sāmoan community of Oceanside, CA, where nurturing the vā, the “connecting spaces” between people, institutions, and generations, has provided a cultural foundation for collaboration. In the Sāmoan worldview, the vā is considered sacred, and the practice of tautua, or service grounded in love and respect, shapes the university’s approach. Rather than leading from the front, the institution is called to "serve from the back," responding with humility, patience, and readiness to support community priorities, capacity building, and shared initiatives.

This panel will explore how institutions like CSUSM can uphold values such as vā and tautua by building relational trust, honoring local leadership, and investing in infrastructure that sustains culturally grounded community-campus partnerships.

An opportunity to integrate and uplift the solidarity of community and the reach of the university.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe how institutions like CSUSM have adapted community engagement practices in response to evolving public needs and priorities.

2. Identify strategies for ensuring equitable access and full participation in culturally informed, community-led partnerships.

3. Explore how communities and organizations can collaboratively leverage university resources in ways that are reciprocal and rooted in trust.

4. Reflect on how CSUSM models intentional, community-led partnerships that support cultural values and collective well-being.