SU named to 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction

Syracuse University is one of only 12 institutions in New York state to be named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. SU has been named for the fifth consecutive year–a year that saw a 9 percent increase in applications for the honor.

The honor roll, launched in 2006 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs. SU has received this recognition with distinction each year since the program’s inception.

SU was recognized for the work done by the more than 10,000 students, 500 faculty and 150 staff engaged in public scholarship during the 2009-10 academic year, supporting the University’s vision of Scholarship in Action through 450 courses, programs or initiatives.

The scope of this work included collaboration on entrepreneurial projects; providing multiple kinds of literacy tutoring in schools, community-based organizations and churches; providing legal services to low-income clients; enhancing civic participation around relevant issues through public scholarship in the arts, humanities and design; creating innovative sustainable architectural designs and building models; and performing community benchmarking that helps local governments and nonprofits improve performance and accountability.

“The consistency with which our students, faculty and staff have earned SU distinction on the President’s Honor Roll speaks to the breadth and depth of our engagement locally and globally,” says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. “Not only is our engagement sustained, but it’s a two-way street where we collaborate with partners from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. We’re taking on some of the most pressing issues of our day—from environmental sustainability to inclusive urban education to economic and cultural revitalization—and, most importantly, we’re doing it together and we’re doing it for the public good.”

“Engagement continues to deepen across campus and community as faculty, staff, students and community work together to address the serious social issues of our time,” says Pamela Kirwin Heintz, associate vice president for engagement and director of the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service. “I extend deep appreciation to all for their willingness to commit significant time and energy to these reciprocal partnerships.”

This year’s honor was achieved through efforts such as mapping/spatial analysis support of community-based initiatives by geography students in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; CNYSpeaks: A Chancellor’s Community Leadership Project to give voice to community participants who might not otherwise have one about issues affecting their lives; CLE, an in-house law firm where students provide legal services to low-income clients; Say Yes Syracuse, which provides comprehensive support for all Syracuse City School District students; “green” revitalization resources to the Near Westside Initiative (NWI); and the Syracuse Art Literacy and Technology (SALT) project, among many other individual and group community service labors.

During the program’s first year, SU was named to the honor roll with distinction in two categories: general community service and a special category for Hurricane Relief Service. For the 2007 awards, SU was one of the top three national winners to receive the honor roll’s highest recognition, the President’s Award for Service to Youth From Disadvantaged Circumstances. SU’s 2008 and 2009 awards were for service with distinction performed for a variety of service projects in conjunction with the University’s Scholarship in Action vision.

Six institutions were given the Honor Roll’s Presidential Award, to be presented in New Orleans later this spring. Syracuse was one of 114 to be named to the Honor Roll with Distinction and part of a select group from New York, despite a substantial increase in applications. For a complete list of colleges and universities named, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

The honor roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and is sponsored by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation and the U.S. departments of education and housing and urban development, in partnership with Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. Each year, the corporation engages four million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America programs. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.