Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the fourth straight year. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) included SIUE among 690 institutions to receive the highest honor possible for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
“SIUE has a long history of community service and believes strongly in preparing our graduates to be active leaders and participants in an ever-changing world,” SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe said. “We are honored to receive this prestigious award and owe much of it to the students themselves. They are the energy driving our commitment, and they are in there rolling up their sleeves.”
“Congratulations to SIUE, its faculty and students for its commitment to service, both in and out of the classroom,” said Wendy Spencer, chief executive officer of CNCS. “Through its work, institutions of higher education are helping improve their local communities and create a new generation of leaders by challenging students to go beyond the traditional college experience and solve local challenges.”
Inspired by the thousands of college students who traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, CNCS has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the American Council on Education and Campus Compact.
The total number of SIUE students who engaged in community service of any kind was 5,637 during the 2011-12 academic year. Those students’ number of all community service hours totaled 107,078. Among the volunteer projects were the Alliance of Students Against Poverty; Cougar Village “Get Green” volunteer project with The Gardens; Alternative Spring Break trip to New Orleans; and monthly projects organized through Kimmel such as the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, Willoughby Farm and Lutheran Senior Services.
More information about SIUE’s community service efforts can be found at the Kimmel Leadership Center. More information on eligibility and the full list of Honor Roll awardees can be found at nationalservice.gov.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi River’s rich bottom land and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of more than 14,000.
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll honors the nation’s leading higher education institutions and their students, faculty and staff for their commitment to bettering their communities through service. These are institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities.
SIUE freshmen plant flowers in an East St. Louis Park.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund and other programs, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.