LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Lock Haven University has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. This marks the fifth straight year that LHU has earned this distinction.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. On campuses across the country, thousands of students joined their faculty to develop innovative programs and projects to meet local needs using the skills gained in their classrooms. Business students served as consultants to budget-strapped nonprofits and businesses, law students volunteered at legal clinics, and dozens of others organized anti-hunger campaigns.

“Congratulations to Lock Haven University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “Our nation’s students are a critical part of the equation and vital to our efforts to tackle the most persistent challenges we face. They have achieved impactful results and demonstrated the value of putting knowledge into practice to help renew America through service.”

The Honor Roll includes six colleges and universities that are recognized as Presidential Awardees, with an additional 115 named to the Distinction List and 621 schools named as Honor Roll members. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the 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.

Anne-Marie Turnage, Director of LHU’s MountainServe Center for Global Citizenship, commented, "Receipt of this award demonstrates Lock Haven University's commitment to preparing students to be active, participating citizens both while they are here at LHU as well as after they graduate." Lock Haven University President Keith T. Miller added, “Five years steady is an excellent record and a wonderful reflection on the work of our students and staff.”

In 2008-2009, 3,445 Lock Haven University students performed 56,653 hours of service and service-learning through MountainServe Center programs. LHU’s application for Honor Roll membership highlighted its Engaged Department Initiative, whose purpose is to deepen university/community partnerships through the strengths of individual academic disciplines and multi- disciplinary departments. The MLK Day Service Project was a downtown beautification project entitled “Looking Good Lock Haven.” University students and local volunteers decorated metal trash cans with designs developed by students and local artists that honored Lock Haven’s diverse past and present.
Also highlighted on LHU’s application to the Honor Roll were the University’s Alternative Spring Break Service- Learning programs. In 2008- 2009, LHU students provided youth mentoring and development at the David School in eastern Kentucky, where they developed their own curriculum and also provided ACT/SAT prep classes. LHU students also provided Katrina disaster relief and recovery in Long Beach, Mississippi at Camp Coast Care. LHU students and faculty also participated in programs to Zacatecas, Mexico and Tighfist, Morocco. Students in Zacatecas provided care at a walk-in clinic and spent time in community centers and an elementary school in the city and its surrounding areas. There they delivered lessons in nutrition and hygiene to children and provided information regarding women’s health concerns in nutrition, newborn care, and cervical and breast cancer. Participants in the Tighfist, Morocco program offered a health clinic and youth leadership and development activities.
A full list of Honor Roll recipients is available at http://myproject.nationalservice.gov/honorroll/Public/Documents/HR2009/10_0225_lsa_honorroll.pdf

College students make a significant contribution to the volunteer sector; in 2009, 3.16 million students performed more than 300 million hours of service, according to the Volunteering in America study released by the Corporation. Each year, the Corporation invests more than $150 million in fostering a culture of service on college campuses through grants awarded by its programs; the education awards that AmeriCorps members receive at the conclusion of their term of service to pay for college; and through support of training, research, recognition, and other initiatives to spur college service.

The Corporation oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.