If you go to the University of Massachusetts and have done community service at any point in the last four years, give yourself a pat on the back: You made the honor roll!
Each year since the program’s inception in 2006, UMass has earned a spot on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
According to the initiative’s website, the honor roll “annually recognizes institutions of higher education for their commitment to and achievement in community service.”
The initiative falls under President Barack Obama’s Learn and Serve America program, which gives students from kindergarten through college opportunities to engage in service learning. The program provides funding through grants for joint school and community service projects, provides training for teachers, administrators, parents and community groups, and distributes models and data on effective methods of service learning.
The Honor Roll is determined by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a government-run organization which works to organize and coordinate local volunteering networks throughout the country. The Corporation also works with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education in announcing the honor roll.
This year, more than 700 colleges and universities were recognized for “exemplary, innovative, and effective community service programs,” according to the Honor Roll site.
“Honorees are 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,” the site states.
This year’s Presidential Awardees included Lee University in Tennessee, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, Ohio Wesleyan University, Emory & Henry College in Virginia and Willamette University in Oregon.
Locally, Bay State College, Holy Cross, Emmanuel College and Simmons College won honor roll with distinction, as did Bates and Bowdoin Colleges in Maine, Antioch University and Keene State College in New Hampshire and Castleton State College in Vermont.
UMass made the Honor Roll, along with fellow local schools Assumption College, Babson College, Bentley University, Boston Architectural College, Boston College, Bristol Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Clark University, Emerson College, Endicott College, Lasell College, Lesley University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, Middlesex Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, North Shore Community College, Northeastern University, Springfield College, Stonehill College, Suffolk University, the Boston Conservatory, Tufts University, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell and Worcester State College.
In 2009, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named UMass a Community-Engaged University based on a curriculum rich in municipal involvement, according to a press release from the Office of News and Information.
In the release, Director of Community Service Learning Carol Soules said the University has long striven to emphasize service learning in the school’s curriculum.
“This is an important recognition of the exemplary efforts of Community Service Learning faculty and students across our campus in conjunction with our community partners,” said Soules. “On the national level, many eyes are on service learning. UMass Amherst’s experience and expertise in this field positions us well to provide leadership for service-learning initiatives both locally and nationally.”
Since 1994, more than 12 departments have received unit fellowships to integrate community service learning into their curriculum.
Until recently the Office of Community Service Learning (OCSL) had fallen under the management of the Commonwealth Honors College, but this year, the University opened a new Community Service Learning Center on the 10 floor of the W.E.B. DuBois Library to help make service learning more central to the University’s functions.
Sam Butterfield can be reached at [email protected].
