University of Dubuque Receives President's Honor Roll Award for Service
Feb 16, 2009 | University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
The Corporation for National and Community Service has named the University of Dubuque to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America's communities.
"I am so proud to see this honor given to the University," said Mark Smith, director of service and leadership. "It recognizes the tremendous effort that the students, faculty, and staff put into living out the University's Mission ."
Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
The Service-Learning programs at the University of Dubuque are designed to provide students opportunities to use the skills they learn in the classroom to meet real needs in the larger Dubuque community. Over the past year UD students, faculty, and staff found numerous ways to use their gifts to serve those in need. As a part of the University's service-learning projects, the entire first-year and sophomore classes serve the Dubuque community through work days and fundraising for local non-profit organizations. Throughout their years at UD, students participate in service projects they plan both in the classroom and through co-curricular programs like Residence Life, as Wendt Character Scholars, in the Athletic program, with their fraternities or sororities, and in campus ministry.
"In this time of economic distress, we need volunteers more than ever. College students represent an enormous pool of idealism and energy to help tackle some of our toughest challenges," said Stephen Goldsmith, vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees the Honor Roll. "We salute [School Name}for making community service a campus priority, and thank the millions of college students who are helping to renew America through service to others."
The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is presented during the annual conference of the American Council on Education.
"I offer heartfelt congratulations to those institutions named to the 2008 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.College and university students across the country are making a difference in the lives of others every day - as are the institutions that encourage their students to serve others," said American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad.
Recent studies have underlined the importance of service-learning and volunteering to college students. In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to the Corporation's Volunteering in America 2007 study. Expanding campus incentives for service is part of a larger initiative to spur higher levels of volunteering by America's college students. The Corporation is working with a coalition of federal agencies, higher education and student associations, and nonprofit organizations to achieve this goal.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations. For more information, go tohttp://www.nationalservice.gov/.
