WSU Named to President’s Honor Roll for Service

February 27, 2008

OGDEN, Utah – For the second year in a row, the Corporation for National and Community Service has named Weber State University to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.

“This honor speaks volumes about our faculty and students’ commitment to service learning and community engagement,” said Ann Millner, president of Weber State University.

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.

In the past year, WSU’s Community Involvement Center was established on campus as a resource for faculty, students and community partners. The center houses the AmeriCorps Education Award Program and Volunteer Involvement Program and helps facilitate service-learning projects in curriculum. WSU also was recognized for its outreach efforts to local youth, including a “Hooked on Fishing, Not Drugs” event organized by student volunteers, and a service-learning project that taught social skills to at-risk youth in the community. During the 2006-07 academic year, more than 6,500 WSU students worked on service-learning projects or volunteered in the community, totaling more than 80,000 service hours.

“College students 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, chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement fostered by outstanding leadership on caring campuses.”

The honor roll is jointly sponsored by the corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, “Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. 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.”

Nationally, six schools received the Community Service Honor Roll presidential awards. In addition, four schools were recognized as Special Achievement Award winners, 127 as Honor Roll With Distinction members and 391 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 528 schools were recognized. A full list is available at nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

“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,” said American Council on Education President David Ward. “Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor.”

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 to nationalservice.gov.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.

Contacts:

Brenda Kowalewski, co-director, Community Involvement Center
801-626-7737 · bkowalewski@weber.edu

Kari Petersen, co-director, Community Involvement Center
801-626-6349 · kpetersen3@weber.edu