The UMW Center for Community Engagement is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Fredericksburg is a small city on the Rappahannock River in Virginia, located at a halfway point between Washington, D.C. and Richmond. Our office is in Suite 320 of the Cedric Rucker University Center on the main campus of the University of Mary Washington. The Center for Community Engagement supports Goal 1 of UMW’s 2022 Strategic Vision, which is to promote the values of service and community and civic engagement at UMW. In 2025, University of Mary Washington was #11 on the list of Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact as rated by The Princeton Review.
Mission
Our mission is to serve as a catalyst for community engagement between UMW and our greater communities, building bridges between students, faculty, staff, and community partners through effective relationships that bring about student learning and positive social change.
Learn More
Visit our Contact Us page for our staff, mailing address, and directions for visitors. The Center for Community Engagement houses the COAR, Alternative Service Breaks, and UMW Votes programs, along with the Impact Program and the Red Cross Club.
Visit our history page to learn more about the history of community engagement at University of Mary Washington.
Learn more about the AmeriCorps VISTA program at the Center for Community Engagement.
The UMW Center for Community Engagement will work to create a culture of community engagement at UMW by providing structural support for civic engagement, volunteerism, and service, and by celebrating the work in the community done by all members of UMW, including faculty, staff, and students.
The Center will work with community members to support effective, respectful, community-driven, reciprocal partnerships to meet societal needs. These partnerships will have beneficial outcomes both for our community partners and our students.
The UMW Center for Community Engagement will work to provide enhanced learning opportunities for students and help them apply their knowledge and skills to complex problems in new environments and settings. We will support students as they grow into engaged citizens and leaders ready to participate in a complex and diverse global society.
The Center will also work with UMW faculty to cultivate and support opportunities for community engagement including community-engaged pedagogy and research. The Center will provide resources for faculty to help them enhance their community-engaged practices and to incentivize and encourage this work.
Through these activities, the Center will exemplify our community values, and support all our community members to develop intellectual, professional, and public leadership skills to become engaged citizens in a democratic society.
