Plans are underway to build a new facility in the heart of campus that reflects UNO’s commitment to its mission as a metropolitan university.

The proposed $23 million community engagement center will be prominently located between the Strauss Performing Arts Center and the Criss Library, serving as an attractive front door to the campus and as UNO’s signature outreach venue.

The 60,000-square-foot facility also will serve as a national model for engaged scholarship.

For a metropolitan university, community engagement refers to the collaboration between the university and local, regional, national and global communities for the exchange of knowledge and resources.

While community engagement is evident throughout UNO — especially through the numerous service-learning offerings and community partnerships — UNO Chancellor John Christensen has suggested that “the time has come to raise the proverbial bar.”

“If engagement is to become a core institutional practice at UNO, I believe as do many others that a home for these activities is essential,” he stated during the campus’ annual Convocation last fall.

The new center will support and allow for expansion of university-community partnerships, help meet growing demands for community meeting and planning space and extend the campus’ logistical resources to its community partners.

Specifically, the facility will house: the Service Learning Academy; American Humanics, the Civic Participation Project, nonprofit incubator and collaborative space, the Metropolitan Omaha Education Consortium (MOEC) and Building Bright initiatives related to preschool to 12th grade educational outreach and truancy abatement.

The new facility is among UNO’s top campaign priorities, and fundraising is currently underway. For more information contact Lori Byrne at the University of Nebraska Foundation, 402-502-4920, or at lbryne@nufoundation.org.