Lipscomb University named to President's Honor Roll for outstanding service
Janel Shoun |
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. The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
“Our receiving this award is reflective of the university’s long-standing commitment to service,” said Lipscomb’s service-learning coordinator Christin Shatzer, citing Lipscomb’s annual Service Day, involvement with Pencil Partners and numerous overseas mission trips.
Education students participated in the nationwide Read for the Record campaign this past fall.
Mission trips have long been a very strong component of Lipscomb's service efforts involving hundreds of students each year. These students traveled to India and Peru.
“This fall, The SALT Project will take Lipscomb’s existing excellent service tradition to the next level by incorporating academics into the service work already going on. And because SALT will become a requirement for graduation, the entire campus will be involved in service-learning. So hopefully, Lipscomb’s innovative campus-wide SALT program will become a model for other universities and will continue to earn national recognition for many years to come. ”
President’s Honor Roll awardees were chosen based on several 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.
In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, “Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. 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; 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.
Click here to view the entire President's Community Service Honor Roll
“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.”
Campus shuts down for one day in the spring as 800 students scatter throughout the city to conduct volunteer work during the annual Service Day.
Lipscomb University’s service activities that have demonstrated a discernible impact on the community include:
1. ) The annual Service Day, when classes are canceled so that around 800 students can scatter across the city conducting needed volunteer work;
2.) Students are allowed to earn chapel credits by conducting service work, either at on-campus service events or out in the community;
3.) Hundreds of students each year sign up to attend overseas mission trips, and engineering students annually construct needed facilities and utilities in Third World countries; and
4.) Numerous classes include service components such as a freshmen seminar focused on juvenile delinquency that requires 20 hours of tutoring of at-risk kids.
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.