WATCH: Honors Again for UC s Commitment to Community Service

The University of Cincinnati is listed on 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 honor roll was formally announced today by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

“Congratulations to UC and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” says 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.”

Honorees are selected based on the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the institution offers academic service-learning courses. The list names 621 schools as honor roll members.

Kathy Dick, director of UC’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE), says that on the Uptown Campus, more than 6,400 UC students participate in community service activities or service-learning courses.

Those activities include UC’s Relay For Life fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society – the largest student-organized community service fundraiser on campus. Last spring, the event drew a record 168 teams and at least 1,863 participants to McMicken Commons, as seen in the video above.

UC’s Zoo-Mates partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and Project Connect matches UC student mentors with children in Cincinnati who are experiencing homelessness. Now in its fourth year and running strong with 30 UC student mentors and 30 children, the program has grown from monthly activities with the children to weekly activities over the academic year.

Furthermore, as part of their scholarship commitment, UC’s Cincinnatus Scholarship recipients perform 30 hours of community service per academic year. UC’s Student Financial Aid Office reports that 3,235 students are currently Cincinnatus scholars, which would amount to 97,050 hours of community service that these students will contribute to serving the community over this academic year. Those activities include tutoring students in after-school programs, raising money for service agencies or medical research and providing assistance at area soup kitchens.

UC has forged a collaborative partnership spanning both academic affairs and student affairs – including co-located office space and sharing of resources and contacts – that serves to create deeper, more sustainable partnerships with our community. Under student affairs, UC’s Center for Community Engagement is dedicated to connecting the University of Cincinnati and the community through service. UC’s Office for Community-Engaged Learning under academic affairs supports students, faculty and community partners to ensure that the service-learning experience at UC is a benefit to all involved.

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.

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 www.nationalservice.gov.

Honor Roll Members

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