The Bennion Center for Community Engagement
Since 1987, the Bennion Center for Community Engagement has fostered lifelong learning and civic participation within the university community. The center was named for Lowell L. Bennion (BA ’28), a prominent educator, sociologist, and humanitarian, who was lauded as a “courageous, outspoken, and effective foe of religious prejudice and of racism, sexism, and materialism.”

At the center’s dedication, then President Chase Peterson stated, “No university can rest merely with the transmission of old or the generation of new knowledge. It must also help students reach out to larger opportunities and responsibilities.” More than 35 years later, the Bennion Center’s influence has surpassed the bounds of campus—enhancing communities in nearly every corner of the state and beyond.

Sue (BA ’66) and Dick (BCV ’68) Jacobsen were part of a founding group of donors who helped make the dream of the Bennion Center a reality. As Sue explained, they were the “match to the gasoline” in igniting support for the center’s mission to inspire and mobilize people to strengthen communities through learning, scholarship, and advocacy.

The Jacobsens’ early investment influenced additional donors to get involved, and today, the Bennion Center is funded by a robust community of supporters who contribute both annually and in perpetuity through more than a dozen endowments that underwrite the center’s programming. These endowments include the Barbara L. Tanner Community Service Endowed Fellowship, the Elmo and Frances Bennion Morgan Volunteer Service Corps Endowment, and the Helping Hands Endowed Scholarship in Honor of Irene Fisher (the center’s first executive director).

Last year, students, faculty, and other community members spent more than 130,000 hours engaging in Bennion Center programming, much of which served communities in need at home and abroad. While the ideas for the center and the strategies to implement them are ever-changing, the Bennion Center continues to model itself on the life and values of its namesake, who embodied respect and fought tirelessly for social and economic justice for all. ❤️