The Corporation for National and Community Service has honored Tusculum College with a place on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities.
“We are pleased to have been recognized for the efforts our staff, faculty and students put into the Civic Arts and community service projects here at Tusculum College,” said Joyce Doughty, director for the Center for Civic Advancement at the College.
Doughty added that service projects and service learning experiences are part of the core of Tusculum College’s mission that includes the Civic Arts and service to others as part of its overall mission.
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.
Poverty, homelessness and hunger were among many of the projects addressed by the most recent group of students participating in service projects in the East Tennessee region, according to Doughty. Students have worked with the Adventist Community Service Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Greeneville and Greene County, Greeneville-Greene County Community Ministries, Greene County Habitat for Humanity, the Manna House (a transitional shelter for the homeless), the Melting Pot soup kitchen, the Mission Soup Kitchen at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church and the Safe Harbor Home program.
In addition, numerous projects have been completed by staff, faculty and other volunteer groups associated with Tusculum College.
“In this time of economic distress, we need volunteers more than ever. College students represent an enormous pool of idealism and energy to help tackle some of our toughest challenges,” said Stephen Goldsmith, vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees the Honor Roll.
“We salute Tusculum College for making community service a campus priority and thank the millions of college students who are helping to renew America through service to others.”
Overall, the Corporation for National and Community Service 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.
This is the third time Tusculum College has been named to the Honor Roll.
The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, 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 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is presented during the annual conference of the American Council on Education.
“I offer heartfelt congratulations to those institutions named to the 2008 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. 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,” said American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad.
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 for National and Community Service 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.