LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Feb. 26, 2010) -- Bellarmine University has earned a spot on the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice.
"We are honored to receive this national recognition,” said Joseph J. McGowan, president, Bellarmine University. “In addition to mastering the academic disciplines, Bellarmine students develop a strong sense of personal and social responsibility, for decisions and judgments that will affect the decency, integrity and even the sustainability of our shared future. These values of excellence in everything we do flow from our Catholic identity in the spirit of Thomas Merton, with an international focus and a commitment to social justice and service.”
“Congratulations to Bellarmine and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “Our nation’s students are a critical part of the equation and vital to our efforts to tackle the most persistent challenges we face. They have achieved impactful results and demonstrated the value of putting knowledge into practice to help renew America through service.”
Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the scope and innovation 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.
Bellarmine emphasizes service-learning opportunities abroad and in the U.S. Service-learning projects tie classroom learning to community service and are typically available each year in Belize, Guatemala, New Orleans, the Appalachians and in our home city, Louisville.
Bellarmine students are more likely to participate in service or volunteer work compared nationally, to selected peers and Kentucky four-year public institutions, according to the recently released National Survey of Student Engagement. The survey found that by the time they are seniors, 73 percent of Bellarmine students have participated in community service or volunteer work.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, "United We Serve." For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.
About Bellarmine University
Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs, a doctor of nursing practice and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes.com and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best institutions for higher education, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.