Athens, Ga. – For the sixth consecutive year, the University of Georgia has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This honor is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
During the 2010-2011 academic year, more than 26,000 UGA students, staff and faculty contributed more than 445,000 hours of service-the equivalent of nearly $9 million in volunteer time-through community projects, student organizations, and academic service-learning courses.
The 2012 Honor Roll highlights several UGA service projects, including the Campus Kitchen Project, a student program that provided more than 1500 meals to the aging population of Athens, and IMPACT, which engaged more than 324 students during academic breaks in weeklong service-learning projects that focused on education, hunger and affordable housing in 19 different locations nationally. In addition, more than 300 UGA faculty, staff and students participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service hosted by HandsOn Northeast Georgia and Community Connection.
Launched in 2006, the Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions for exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs. Honorees are chosen based on a series of criteria, including scope and innovativeness of service projects, percentage of student participation, incentives for service, and availability of service-learning courses.
The Office of Service Learning, a unit that reports jointly to the Office of the Vice President of Public Service and Outreach and the Office of the Vice President of Instruction, coordinated UGA’s application process.
For more information, see the Office of Service Learning at http://servicelearning.uga.edu/.