Cincinnati, Ohio –Cincinnati Christian University (CCU) has been awarded a place on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities.
The Corporation for National and Community Service that administers this program announced the award.
CCU students annually serve the Cincinnati community through a variety of Christian service projects and internships that include tutoring children in after-school programs in its Price Hill neighborhood and stocking shelves for local food pantries. Last fall students helped Habitat for Humanity build a house near the campus. In addition, each spring CCU cancels classes and closes offices so students, faculty and administration may participate in Community Service Day.
According to a recent economic impact study (conducted by the University of Cincinnati), CCU provides an estimated 40,000 hours of free volunteer community service each year. A portion of CCU’s expenditures also supports these service activities.
“All of our graduates are expected to engage in service as part of their Christian college experience,” said Dr. David Faust, CCU president. “We want them all to have a strong faith and a servant’s heart.”
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.
“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 Cincinnati Christian University 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 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.
The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation, 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 is working with a coalition of federal agencies, higher education and student associations, and nonprofit organizations to achieve this goal.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service: The Corporation 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.
About Cincinnati Christian University: CCU is a private Christian university that has been located at 2700 Glenway Avenue in Cincinnati’s Price Hill neighborhood since its founding in 1924. Today, more than 1,100 students study at one of CCU’s colleges: Cincinnati Bible College, Cincinnati Bible Seminary, and the College of Adult Learning. CCU is accredited by the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission, the Association for Biblical Higher Education, and the Association of Theological Schools. CCU is also a member of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CCU COMMUNITY SERVICE CONTACT:
Larry Travis, Vice President for Leadership Development, larry.travis@CCUniversity.edu
Bill Baumgardner, Director of Service Learning, bill.baumgardner@CCUniversity.edu