SAN DIEGO – Twelve local colleges and universities are among the 528 nationwide honored today at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education as members of the 2007 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
The President’s Honor Roll, launched in 2006, recognizes institutions of higher education that support innovative and effective community service and service learning programs. It is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) through its Learn and Serve America program; the CNCS is the federal agency that also administers the Senior Corps and AmeriCorps programs.
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Its highest honor, the Presidential Award, was bestowed this year on six colleges and universities: Chaminade University of Honolulu; Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio; Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y.; the University of Colorado at Boulder; the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia; and the University of Redlands, in Redlands, Calif. Special Awards for outstanding community service were given to two community colleges and two minority-serving institutions; Honor Roll with Distinction awards to 127 institutions nationwide, including five in Rhode Island and five in Massachusetts; and Honor Roll awards to another 391 institutions, including one in Rhode Island and 14 in Massachusetts.
“Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the work force,” U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in a statement today. “We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country.”
The Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass., colleges and universities named to the 2007 Honor Roll with Distinction are:
• Bryant University in Smithfield
• Johnson & Wales University’s Providence Campus
• Roger Williams University in Bristol
• Salve Regina University in Newport
• University of Rhode Island in Kingston Village, South Kingstown
• Stonehill College in Easton
The local colleges and universities named to the 2007 Honor Roll are:
• Providence College
• Bristol Community College in Fall River
“College students like those at Bryant,” and the other schools honored today, “are tackling the toughest problems in America, demonstrating their compassion, commitment and creativity by serving as mentors, tutors, health workers and even engineers,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, said today. “They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement, fostered by outstanding leaders on caring campuses.”
Honorees are chosen based on factors including the scope and innovativeness of their service projects, the incentives offered, the percentage of students who participate in service activities, and the extent of each school’s academic service-learning offerings.
“There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded,” David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, said today in San Diego, at the group’s annual conference. “Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor.”
Sandra Enos, an associate professor of sociology at Bryant University who incorporates service learning into many of her classes, agreed, saying: “By providing service learning opportunities in the classroom and volunteer opportunities within the community, our students are acquiring the skills to implement creative solutions to some of society’s problems.”
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is co-sponsored by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, the USA Freedom Corps, and the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development. To learn more about the program or this year’s winners, or to nominate an institution for the 2008 Honor Roll, visit www.LearnAndServe.gov. To learn more about the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), or its Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs, visit www.NationalService.gov.
