03/04/2009
For a third consecutive year, SUNY Cortland has received federal recognition for its community service by being named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
Since 2007, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has annually presented this honor to colleges and universities to recognize exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities.
The CNCS 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.
SUNY Cortland was among 546 schools recognized as honor roll members for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement during the 2007-08 academic year at the American Council on Education’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8-9. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.
“In this time of economic distress, we need volunteers more than ever,” said Stephen Goldsmith, vice chair of the CNCS board of directors, during the presentation ceremony. “College students represent an enormous pool of idealism and energy to help tackle some of our toughest challenges. We salute SUNY Cortland for making community service a campus priority, and thank the millions of college students who are helping to renew America through service to others.”
“We at SUNY Cortland are so pleased to be recognized with the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll,” remarked SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum. “SUNY Cortland was recently also awarded by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching with its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. This latest acknowledgement by the Corporation for National and Community Service is just additional icing on the cake.”
"The College community is most gratified to be listed for the third consecutive year on the President's Honor Roll for Community Service in Higher Education,” added Richard Kendrick, director of the College’s Institute for Civic Engagement and chair of the College’s Sociology/Anthropology Department. “Coming on the heels of our recognition by the Carnegie Foundation in its Community Engagement category, this is especially important in verifying the College’s commitment to the community and to the civic involvement of our students. The entire Cortland community should be proud of these accomplishments.”
Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovativeness 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.
Between July 2007 and June 2008, 2,082 SUNY Cortland students contributed 57,994 hours of service to the community, according to data on general community service submitted to the CNCS by Kendrick.
Of those students, 664 engaged in academic service learning projects and the other 1,418 offered their time, talent and energy to endeavors outside the classroom. More than 1,000 students each performed at least 20 hours of community service. SUNY Cortland’s VISTA member, who was supported by the CNCS, enlisted the services of 410 SUNY Cortland students in volunteer programs of various kinds, including the “Power of 10” service project.
The College’s honor roll application highlighted five general service programs of the College, Kendrick said. These included the Skills Builders, Sports Movement and Wheel Chair Sports programs of the Physical Education and Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies departments.
“These programs serve between 185 and 210 children and adults with disabilities on a weekly basis,” Kendrick said. “Our food, clothing and appliance drive donates about three tons a year of items to the Migrant Education Outreach Program. These items include food, clothing and appliances that might otherwise be thrown out by students vacating their residence halls. In 2007-08, the College raised about $14,000 in the annual CROP Walk to benefit programs combating hunger in the Cortland community and around the world.”
In 2007-08, the College was involved in serving youth from disadvantaged circumstances, Kendrick noted. Ninety-eight students contributed 3,346 service hours in that special focus area. Volunteers from the College took part in the YWCA’s Bridges for Kids and Family Nights; the Access to College (ACE) program, internships that serve at-risk youth at agencies such as Family Counseling Services, Family Connections, and the Gateway Center for Youth; and Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID), in which Cortland Urban Recruitment of Educations (CURE) students participate.
“The extensive involvement of our campus in community service, and the willingness of community members to partner with our faculty, staff, and students to enrich our campus, is something we should all celebrate,” Kendrick said.
“I offer heartfelt congratulations to those institutions named to the 2008 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll,” said American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad. “College and university students across the country are making a difference in the lives of others every day – as are the institutions that encourage their students to serve others.”
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 honor roll is jointly sponsored by the CNCS, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. For more information, go to http://www.nationalservice.gov.