Chicago (March 2, 2010) Saint Xavier University was named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. On campuses across the country, thousands of students joined their faculty to develop innovative programs and projects to meet local needs using the skills gained in their classrooms. Business students served as consultants to budget-strapped nonprofits and businesses, law students volunteered at legal clinics, and dozens of others organized anti-hunger campaigns.
“Congratulations to Saint Xavier University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “Our nation’s students are a critical part of the equation and vital to our efforts to tackle the most persistent challenges we face. They have achieved impactful results and demonstrated the value of putting knowledge into practice to help renew America through service.”
The Honor Roll includes six colleges and universities recognized as Presidential Awardees, with an additional 115 named to the Distinction List and 621 schools named as Honor Roll members. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the 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. Read the full list of Honor Roll recipients.
“The Saint Xavier community is grateful for this national honor, proud of our public-spirited students and pleased to partner with President Barack Obama in his national call to service initiative,” said Interim President and Provost Angela Durante, Ph.D. “The Sisters of Mercy, the founders of our 163 year-old University, are renowned for their ‘mercy spirit tradition’ and this federal recognition proves their legacy is alive and well today.”
The important community service volunteer efforts of Saint Xavier students covers thousands of hours of work in various areas of need, including: at-risk youth, dropout prevention, English as a second language, homelessness, mentoring, tutoring, youth development, senior citizen services, special needs support for the disabled, service trips to build houses for needy people in foreign lands such as Belize and more.
College students make a significant contribution to the volunteer sector; in 2009, 3.16 million students performed more than 300 million hours of service, according to the Volunteering in America study released by the Corporation. Each year, the Corporation invests more than $150 million in fostering a culture of service on college campuses through grants awarded by its programs; the education awards that AmeriCorps members receive at the conclusion of their term of service to pay for college; and through support of training, research, recognition, and other initiatives to spur college service.
The Corporation oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.
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The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit the Corporation for National & Community Service Web site.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Jay Foot, Executive Director of Media Relations
O: (773) 298-3937
C: (773) 617-3632
foot@sxu.edu
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