Friday, August 21, 2009
New UF Students to Serve at 51 Community Locations
Written by:  UF Public Information
        New students at The University of Findlay will get their start in their new home Saturday by reaching out to the community to assist with more than 50 service projects throughout the day. 
        More than 500 new students, accompanied by faculty and staff volunteers and upperclass students, will spend three hours each helping to clean, paint, landscape, inventory, visit with senior citizens and build a new play area for a YMCA camp, among many other projects. 
        The service day is supported by Coca-Cola, which donated 480 bottles of water to support the project. 
        Each year, new UF students have the opportunity, before they even step into a classroom, to give back to their new community by volunteering. During 2008-09, UF students volunteered more than 11,000 hours of service. For a full list of projects and further information, please contact Suzanne English, director of public information, at 419-434-4425 or 419-306-7552. 
        This winter, The University of Findlay was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts. 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 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.  

                                       

Feb. 16, 2009                                                                                

The University of Findlay Named to Presidential Honor Roll For Community Service
            Findlay, Ohio – The Corporation for National and Community Service selected The University of Findlay for a place on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities.

“The entire UF community should feel proud to have its service recognized with this distinction,” said Crystal Weitz, coordinator of Campus Compact. “We also want to thank our community partners for welcoming our faculty, staff and students into their important work in our local community. Working together, we can continue to be the difference in our community!”

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 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.

During the 2007-2008 academic year, UF students engaged in 11,910 hours of service. At UF, faculty members work both independently and with Campus Compact to develop academic service-learning opportunities for students. Sweet Service Saturdays, Bring a Senior Friend to Thanksgiving Dinner, the UK-Kake Ambassadors service initiative, a Therapeutic Relationships academic service-learning course and an international student orientation service project are a handful of the many opportunities for civic engagement that are coordinated through Campus Compact. For more information on service opportunities or Campus Compact, contact Weitz at cjones@findlay.edu or 419-434-6671.

         The Campus Compact Center for Service and Learning is coordinated by students, faculty, staff and community partner representatives who seek to nurture service activities of many types with a belief that learning through service will benefit the individual as well as the community in lasting ways. The University of Findlay is a member of the Ohio Campus Compact and the National Campus Compact, an organization of more than 930 colleges and universities which promotes volunteer service that develops students’ citizenship skills and values, encourages collaborative partnerships between campuses and communities, and assists faculty who seek to integrate public and community engagement into their teaching and research.

“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,” said Stephen Goldsmith, vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees the Honor Roll. “We salute The University of Findlay for making community service a campus priority, and thank the millions of college students who are helping to renew America through service to others.”

Overall, the corporation honored six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, 83 were named as Honor Roll with Distinction members and 546 schools as Honor Roll members.  In total, 635 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

The Honor Roll is a program of the corporation, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is presented during the annual conference of the American Council on Education.

“I offer heartfelt congratulations to those institutions named to the 2008 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. College and university students across the country are making a difference in the lives of others every day – as are the institutions that encourage their students to serve others,” said American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad.

Recent studies have underlined the importance of service-learning and volunteering to college students. In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to the Corporation’s Volunteering in America 2007 study. Expanding campus incentives for service is part of a larger initiative to spur higher levels of volunteering by America’s college students. The Corporation is working with a coalition of federal agencies, higher education and student associations, and nonprofit organizations to achieve this goal.

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/.

The University of Findlay is a comprehensive university with a hands-on approach to learning located in Findlay, Ohio, approximately 45 miles south of Toledo. The University of Findlay is noted for its innovative, career-oriented programs in more than 60 majors and nine graduate and professional degrees.