“The program is designed to recognize the broad commitment to community service by institutions of higher learning,” said Bruce Harshbarger, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs. “Service and civic engagement are key concepts in GCSU’s curriculum as Georgia’s Public Liberal Arts University. That curriculum is taught both within and beyond the classroom by faculty, by staff members, through students’ engagement in their campus and local community and through students’ engagement with one another.”

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 innovativeness 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.

Georgia College’s The GIVE Center stated in the 1997 by director Kendall M. Stiles serves as the volunteerism clearinghouse empowering students to make a difference by linking them to the needs of the community. It is through this center that students, faculty and staff become involved in local community, national and international volunteer efforts.

The volunteer work performed by Georgia College students gives back to the community as well as develop the students’ leadership skills through service experiences, Stiles said.

“During the 2007 academic year, 1,214 students performed more than 30,635 volunteer hours in our community,” Stiles said. “We also had students perform more than 30,000 service learning hours. Together our students gave back more thanb 60,000 hours to our community.”

Students donated blood and platelets and bagged potatoes to feed more than 140,000 people on a Saturday morning to raise money for local non-profits and American Cancer Society and Children’s Hospital in Macon. Students used their spring break to help rebuild areas devastated by natural disasters, and 72 students earned the National Presidential Volunteer Service Award by performing more than 100 hours of service within 12 months.

“College students are tackling the toughest problems in America, demonstrating their compassion, commitment, and creativity in by serving as mentors, tutors, health workers, and even engineers,” Eisner said. “They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement fostered by outstanding leadership on caring campuses.”

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

“The award is the latest in a log list of honors that have been earned by The GIVE Center. The center engages Georgia College students in experiences which not only prepare them for careers, but for lives as citizens,” Harshbarger said. “It has been named a national ‘point of light’ and has earned the university a recognition by the Templeton Foundation as one of a select number of American colleges and universities which build character. In addition, as the only university-based ‘Hands-On Georgia’ grant recipient, The GIVE Center connects more than 3,000 student volunteers each year to the needs of the Baldwin County community.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings congratulated the award winners.

“Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce,” she said. “We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country.”

Overall, the Community Service Honor Roll awarded six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, four schools were recognized as Special Achievement Award winners, 127 as Honor Roll With Distinction members and 391 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 528 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

“There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded,” said American Council on Education President David Ward. “Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service 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 http://www.nationalservice.gov.