President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll cites Springfield College
June 22, 2011SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 22, 2011 – Springfield College has been named to the 2010 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. This marks the third consecutive year that the college has received the award.
Responding to the announcement, Springfield College President Richard B. Flynn said, “We are honored once again to be recognized for inclusion on this prestigious Honor Roll. The enduring Springfield College mission of educating students in spirit, mind and body for leadership in service to others is at the core of the student experience. All of us at the college are guided by the understanding that we are a part of, and not apart from, our community.”
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) selected awardees on the basis of the scope and innovation of their service projects, percentage of student participation in service, incentives for service, and the extent of academic service learning courses from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010.
Among the examples that Springfield College cited for this period were that students on the Springfield, Mass., campus performed almost 166,200 hours of community service.
In the Springfield College AmeriCorps Program alone during this period, 100 Springfield College students served more than 75,000 hours in schools, hospitals, mental health clinics and other community-based organizations. They provided academic coaching, health counseling, in-school counseling, youth leadership development, and volunteer management and recruitment services to more than 14,000 individuals in greater Springfield.
The Springfield College AmeriCorps Program is supported in part by the Massachusetts Service Alliance and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
“Congratulations to Springfield College and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick A. Corvington, chief executive officer of CNCS. “We salute all the honor roll awardees for embracing their civic mission and providing opportunities for their students to tackle tough national challenges through service.”
College students make a significant contribution to the volunteer sector. In 2009, 3.2 million students performed more than 307 million hours of service, valued at $6.4 billion, according to CNCS. Last year, the CNCS provided more than $215 million in support to institutions of higher education supporting community service and service learning.
The CNCS oversees the honor roll in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.
