UC Santa Barbara has been named to the 2008 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This marks the second consecutive year that UCSB has been recognized with this distinction for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.
The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and is sponsored by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation and the U.S. Departments of Education and of Housing and Urban Development. Established in 2006, the program recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs. This year, 635 institutions around the country were named to the Honor Roll.
"We salute these universities for making community service a campus priority," said Nicola Goren, acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "In this time of economic distress, we need volunteers more than ever. College students represent an enormous pool of idealism and energy to help tackle some of our toughest challenges."
Recent studies have underlined the importance that service-learning and volunteering hold for college students. In 2006, some 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to the Volunteering in America study conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service. It is estimated that college-student volunteering in the United States was worth more than $5.6 billion last year.
At UC Santa Barbara, more than 6,000 students annually serve as volunteers through UCSB's Community Affairs Board, a student-run volunteer placement organization.
"For thousands of UCSB students, ‘scholarship, leadership, and citizenship' is not just a slogan, it is a way of life," said Michael Young, UCSB Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. "They see volunteerism as central to fulfilling their responsibilities as good citizens."
The organizations through which UCSB students performed outstanding national and community service last year included campus groups, local chapters of national organizations, and special programs and projects. Among them: the Armenian Student Association, Black Student Union, El Congreso, Environmental Affairs Board, Isla Vista Tenants Union, Family Literacy Program, Peace Corps, Project Eye to Eye, and the Student Initiated Outreach Project.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering and works to improve lives and strengthen communities. Each year, the organization engages four million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America programs. More information is available at http://www.nationalservice.gov.
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