VCU is Honored for Community Service and Service Learning

By Mike Porter

The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education has honored Virginia Commonwealth University and other leading colleges and universities, students, faculty members and staff 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 sixth consecutive year and is one of 642 schools named to the honor roll this year.

"VCU has earned this recognition each year due to the university's sincere commitment to community engagement and the many ways that students, faculty and staff are involved in the community," said Cathy Howard, Ph.D., vice provost of the Division of Community Engagement. 

The honor roll was launched in 2006 and is the highest federal recognition that colleges and universities can achieve for service learning and civic engagement. It is sponsored by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation and the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.

“Through service, these institutions are creating the next generation of leaders by challenging students to tackle tough issues and create positive impacts in the community,” said Robert Velasco, acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “We applaud the honor roll schools, their faculty and students for their commitment to make service a priority in and out of the classroom.”

Organizers said community service efforts at the honor roll universities are empowering students to solve challenges within their communities.

“Preparing students to participate in our democracy and providing them with opportunities to take on local and global issues in their course work are as central to the mission of education as boosting college completion and closing the achievement gap,” said Eduardo Ochoa, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education. “The honor roll schools should be proud of their work to elevate the role of service-learning on their campuses.”

The selection was announced March 12 in Washington, D.C., and recognizes VCU’s contributions to service and civic engagement through the service hours of students and exemplary university-community partnerships.

VCU partnerships included BEST in CLASS, a three-year partnership between VCU and the Henrico County and Richmond City school divisions to improve the behavior of young children in the classroom; The Mosby Community Partnership, which focuses on engaging residents to reduce health disparities in the nearby Mosby public housing community; and The Prison Writing Project, which allows students, prisoners and ex-offenders to share personal experiences through writing.

"The number of service-learning classes at VCU continues to increase every year. In service-learning classes, VCU students and faculty members collaborate with community members to address critical social issues facing our city,” said Lynn Pelco, service-learning program director, Division of Community Engagement. “Through this process our students have opportunities to apply what they are learning in their university education to address real-world problems.”

The honor roll designation also recognizes the important role of programs such as VCU’s AmeriCorps and the Carver-VCU neighborhood partnership. In addition, 5,577 VCU students contributed an estimated 170,956 hours of community service in 2010-2011 through service-learning classes, service projects of student organizations and individual volunteering.