For the fourth year in a row, The University of Tampa has been named to
the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for
distinguished community service. The award recognizes UT as a leader
among institutions of higher education for its support of volunteering,
service-learning, and civic engagement, and highlights its work engaging
students, faculty and staff in meaningful service that achieves
measurable results in the community.
Through the PEACE (People
Exploring Active Community Experiences) Volunteer Center, UT actively
recruits students, staff and faculty to participate in co-curricular
service-learning projects, such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters
mentoring, the annual Into the Streets Orientation Service Project and
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and alternative break programs.
More than 1,500 students, faculty and staff participate in these
community outreach programs annually.
UT is among more than 511
institutions of higher education that were recognized as honor roll
members by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
In
its application, UT focused on the development of the Service-Learning
Committee, a Halloween for Hunger service event, an alternative spring
break trip to the Florida National Marine Sanctuary in Key West and a
curricular service-learning course “Development Strategies and Projects
in Africa.”
Megan Frisque, UT’s assistant director of civic engagement, said she was pleased that UT received the designation.
“The honor roll designation conveys UT’s commitment to engaging students in the community, locally and globally,” Frisque said.
Launched
in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal
recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to
volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. Annual 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.
CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in
collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and
Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on
Education. For a full list of recipients and descriptions of their
service, visit
www.NationalService.gov/HonorRoll. For more information about the community service efforts at UT, e-mail
peace@ut.edu.
The
Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal
agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through
its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and
leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative,
United We Serve. For more information, visit
NationalService.gov.