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By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5619
Posted 2-23-09
GREENSBORO, NC — For the third straight year, UNCG has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities. The program is sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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.
UNCG volunteer programs in its application included hurricane relief trips, Family Literacy Night, Horsepower therapeutic riding program, Project Effort with local schools, Service Learning Journey and College Bound Sisters. During the year, more than 26,000 service hours were logged by 9,448 UNCG students. Learn more about UNCG's Office of Leadership & Service Learning.
Overall, the corporation honored six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, 83 were named as Honor Roll With Distinction members and 546 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 635 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.
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 honor roll is announced during the annual conference of the American Council on Education this month.
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 to www.nationalservice.gov.