Southeastern receives Presidential Community Service Award
Press Release Date: 03-08-2010
DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State University has been named to 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 Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. On campuses across the country, thousands of students joined their faculty to develop innovative programs and projects to meet local needs using the skills gained in their classrooms. Business students served as consultants to budget-strapped nonprofits and businesses, law students volunteered at legal clinics, and dozens of others organized anti-hunger campaigns.
"Congratulations to Southeastern and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities," said 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."
The Honor Roll includes six colleges and universities that are recognized as Presidential Awardees, with an additional 115 named to the Distinction List and 621 schools named as Honor Roll members. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the 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.
"We are delighted to receive this recognition from the Corporation for National and Community Service for the fourth consecutive year," said Southeastern's Dr. Bryon Clark, Dean of the School of Graduate & University Studies and chair of the University's Council on Engagement & Service. "It certainly speaks well for the commitment that our president (Dr. Larry Minks) and University have made concerning engagement and service. This continued recognition is truly a reflection of the individual and collective efforts of our dedicated students, faculty, and staff to make a difference in the lives of others through community service."
Three examples of Southeastern's community service during the award time were the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, which featured 120 participants and a total of 720 hours of community service; the Red River Special Olympics, which included more than 100 volunteers from Southeastern who assisted with the event; and the Book Buddies program, in which more than 90 Education majors at Southeastern read to children in public schools as part of coursework.
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.