VCU named to 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction

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The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has honored Virginia Commonwealth University and other leading colleges and universities for their commitment to bettering their communities through community service and service learning. 

VCU was admitted to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the seventh consecutive year and is one of 113 schools that earned the recognition of Honor Roll with Distinction this year.

"Through its new strategic plan, Quest for Distinction, VCU has deepened its longtime commitment to sustainable, university-community partnerships that enhance the educational, economic and cultural vitality of our local communities," said Cathy Howard, Ph.D., vice provost of the Division of Community Engagement

The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, launched in 2006, annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.

The Corporation for National and Community Service 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 2013 honor roll recipients were announced at the American Council of Education’s 95th annual meeting on March 4 in Washington, D.C.

"More than 7,000 VCU students contributed 580,000 service hours within the local Richmond community last year,” said Lynn Pelco, service-learning program director, Division of Community Engagement. “Many of these students were enrolled in service-learning classes, through which students and faculty members collaborate with community members to apply their academic knowledge to address critical social issues facing our city.”

VCU’s honor roll application detailed three community projects: ¡Una Vida Sana!, which prepares health professionals to work with community partners in underserved communities and provides cardio-metabolic disease screenings and referrals to the Richmond area’s Hispanic community; Open Minds, in which VCU faculty teach humanities courses to both students and prisoners; and the Mosby Partnership, which addresses health disparities, leadership development and youth programming in Richmond’s Mosby Court public housing development.

Visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/initiatives/honorroll.asp for the full list of Honor Roll awardees and more information.