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The Rochester Center for Community LeadershipÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s new name reflects the centerÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s focus on connections with community partners.

Rochester is among 119 colleges and universities to receive the elective designation that indicates institutional commitment to community engagement.

Doris Gray, of the Hillary Clinton Center for WomenÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s Empowerment at Al Akhawayn University, and author Monica Sharma, an authority on transformational leadership, will speak on global issues of equity and access to health and education.

Now in its third year, the Community Engagement Challenge encourages student organizations to propose a charitable outreach program that benefits the greater Rochester community.

More than 1,300 incoming students will fan out to about 90 Rochester schools, libraries, senior centers, neighborhood associations, and more to paint, stack bookshelves, rake, pull weeds, and begin to get involved in their new community.

For the past decade, more than 100 graduates of Rochester-area colleges have spent their first year out of school working to alleviate poverty in the local community through the University's Rochester Youth Year program.

The Rochester Center for Community Leadership was created in 2005 to put University student community engagement programs under one umbrella. In 12 years, itÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s become a pretty big umbrella.

Wilson Day enables first-year students to learn about the Rochester community during orientation, as they help out at nearly 100 local agencies, including schools, churches, nursing homes, museums, and more.

A partnership between the University and local community organizations, the TOUR program has made a college experience accessible to hundreds of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

More than 1,400 first-year students fanned out to 94 sitesÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½”schools, churches, libraries, museums, senior centers and moreÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½”to learn more about their new home and to help community organizations.