Santa Clara University's Service Orientation Honored by Presidential Honor Roll Listing
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 22, 2012— A federal agency focused on promoting national and community service has named Santa Clara University to a presidential honor roll for being one of the nation’s most engaged, service-oriented institutions of higher learning.
The Corporation for National and Community Service named SCU to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which honors the schools that excel in “placing students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by engaging them in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community.” This is the sixth consecutive year the University has received this award.
Santa Clara University students participated in over 119,000 hours of service during the 2010-2011 school year. They did so through several programs that offer students and others opportunities for active engagement, research, and service oriented-learning, such as:
* The Arrupe Placements, which allow nearly 1,200 students a year to learn through community engagement by working with dozens of community partners throughout Santa Clara County.
* The Kolvenbach Solidarity Program, designed to expose students to the harsher life conditions experienced by those in parts of El Salvador, Ecuador, Mexico, and the U.S.
* Santa Clara Community Action Program, dedicated to applying activism and justice to address social issues in and around the campus community.
* Residential Learning Community programs such as Urban Plunge, dealing with the homeless, and the Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project, focused on the environment.
* The Experiential Learning for Social Justice component of the University’s Core Curriculum, through which undergraduate students participate in one or more of 55 community-based learning courses focused on social justice, civic engagement, and one-on-one interaction with clients of nonprofits or other community organizations.
* Twenty-eight additional courses that incorporate community-based learning into their curriculum.
Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service. For a full list of recipients and descriptions of their service, visit www.NationalService.gov/HonorRoll.