LSU Receives National Honor for Community Service
12/22/2014
BATON ROUGE – On Friday, Nov. 5th, LSU was named to the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National & Community Service, or CNCS. Recognized this year in the areas of education, economic opportunity, and general community service, this marks the ninth year in a row LSU has received recognition on the Honor Roll.
The 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community challenges. As a result, more students are likely to pursue a lifelong path of civic engagement that achieves meaningful and measurable outcomes in the communities they serve. Inspired by the thousands of college students who traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, CNCS has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the American Council on Education and Campus Compact. LSU has received the recognition every year since inception.
One goal of LSU Flagship 2020 is to promote engagement of faculty, staff and students in the transformation of communities. Service at LSU is fostered through sustainable collaborations between community partners and campus entities including the following examples:
- An initiative between the Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Gordon A. Cain Center, and the LSU College of Science works with the Big Buddy program mentoring K-12 students to promote interest in STEM disciplines.
- Volunteers in Public Schools partners with the Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership, or CCELL, to engage service-learning students who tutor elementary aged students in math & reading.
- LSU Campus Life organizes “CANapalooza” as part of homecoming festivities, joining forces with the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank to collect canned food items throughout homecoming week.
- The Sensational Seniors program at the Leo S. Butler Center, in which service-learning students in the School of Kinesiology collaborate with local fitness professionals to offer an exercise program to seniors at the center.
- The Body Walk program, interactive, outreach program administered by the AgCenter that teaches K-12 the importance of health and physical activity.
Twenty-three student organizations list their primary purpose as service. In 2012-13, Greek organizations contributed 25,910 service hours and raised $432,965 for philanthropic efforts. LSU student-athletes contributed 4,783 hours of community outreach, reaching 7,500 youth through these efforts. Additionally, 159 service-learning courses were taught to 3,800 students, whose work resulted in positive impacts for more than 85 non-profit groups. Collectively, LSU students contributed approximately $1,295, 279 to the state economy through service efforts.
LSU is among eight institutions of higher education in Louisiana to receive the award this year. The other Louisiana institutions are Centenary College of Louisiana, Grambling State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Our Lady of the Lake College, Southeastern Louisiana University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Xavier University of Louisiana.
The full list of honor roll awardees can be found at nationalservice.gov.
Billy Gomila
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3867