SUNY College at Old Westbury Earns Place on President's Honor Roll for Service

The Corporation for National and Community Service named SUNY College at Old Westbury to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Old Westbury is one of 528 colleges and universities nationwide to be named to the honor roll for its exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.

"Our College seeks students of high quality and produces graduates ready to lead at work, in the community, and in life," said College President Calvin O. Butts, III. "A key element in that leadership, however, is the relation they have with the world around them. By challenging students to learn about, and help address, the needs of our community early in their collegiate careers, we are providing them a valuable opportunity to learn about potential career paths, to face issues of social and economic inequity head on, and to experience the power change can make for ourselves and 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 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.

Old Westbury was recognized for the pilot version of its now mandatory First Year Student Engagement program, an initiative of the College's Community Engagement and Partnership Center. During the spring 2007 pilot, the First Year Experience Student Engagement Program placed 80 students in community service positions with area not-for-profits as part of a required course offered through the curriculum of the College's Office of First-Year Experience.

The program became a mandatory portion of the College's curriculum for first-year students this year and more than 500 students will be engaged in community service placements during spring 2008 with area human service, educational, health care and municipal organizations. Unlike many college programs where service learning is a volunteer effort, the Old Westbury CEPC First Year Student Engagement Program is unique in that it is directly tied to the academic structure of the institution.

Through this program, every freshman student enrolling in the College is required to study the importance of civic engagement in their own lives and in the life of a community. Then, they are each required to take part in between 30 and 50 hours of service with pre-selected regional not-for-profit partners or on campus. Through class discussion, reflective journals, and other assignments, they share their experiences with classmates and faculty.

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the Presidents Council on Service and Civic Participation.

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."

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

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.