March 21, 2013
For Immediate Release
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| Members of Dr. Ted Taylor’s FIRST CLASS visited Grandview Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility visit with the residents as part of a community service project. (Campbellsville University Photo by Ye Wei “Vicky”)
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By Samantha Stevenson, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville University has been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the second year in a row, from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), as a leader among institutions of higher education for her support of volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.
CU was admitted to the President’s Honor Roll for engaging her students, faculty and staff in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community.
“We are very pleased to be named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service,” Dr. Michael V. Carter, Campbellsville University president, said.
“Campbellsville University has a long history of encouraging the development of Christian servant leaders – the giving of one’s self in service to others.
“This recognition is further acknowledgment of the positive and rich educational experience that Campbellsville University students are receiving and exemplifies an ethic of servant leadership on the part of the faculty, staff, coaches and students of CU.”
Jon Hansford, director of the First Year Experience at Campbellsville University, said 2,236 CU students participated in community service activities with each reporting student averaging 21.73 hours. A total of 48,584 hours of community service was engaged in by CU students, with 351 students completing at least 20 hours of service per semester.
Over 70 percent of CU employees engaged in service activities with 51 faculty members facilitating service learning. CU employees contributed 8,702 hours with each CU employee averaging 68.52 hours. “Being recognized from the highest levels of the federal government two times reminds us of our solid commitment to our community but also our mission to prepare servant leaders,” Jon Hansford said.
“It is an honor to be a part of the rich service history of CU. Being recognized in this way continues to speak of our heritage as a Christian higher education institution and compliments the genuine heart of our faculty, staff and students.”
Among the activities reported were Repair Affair, which involved the entire freshman class of 462 students, along with 24 faculty and staff members, who benefited 17 low-income homeowners with badly needed home repairs. The group worked with Kentucky Heartland Outreach on the program.
In addition to the Repair Affair, Campbellsville University’s Green Minds members have made a lasting impact on the community. The student organization has completed a series of projects that involved 80 students and ten faculty and staff members who contributed 560 hours of service to benefit 500 individuals. Projects include: building seven community vegetable gardens, tutoring over 100 elementary students in environmental education and sustainability practices, creek- side trash clean ups, planting 150 trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers, and providing habitat improvement for the local ecosystem.
Green Minds exemplifies the Institutional Commitment to Service Statement because they’ve embraced the culture of servant leadership at Campbellsville University in an effort to make the world a better place to live. The students of Green Minds exemplify the mission and core values of Campbellsville University.
The Servant Leadership Project consisted of 414 students and 40 faculty and staff members completing 1,950 hours of service to serve 20,800 members of the community.
Services included: tutoring students in area schools, raising money and awareness about homelessness and human trafficking, cleaning up local parks, streams, and creeks, planting over 20 trees, providing 26 health screenings, serving in area nursing homes and two local clothes closets, creating PSAs to keep the environment clean, and organizing an Earth Day program for over 50 elementary school students.
The Servant Leadership Project exemplifies the Institutional Commitment to Service Statement because it introduces every first-year student to Campbellsville University’s culture of servant leadership and prepares him or her for lifelong service. The program practices found helpful are the First Year Experience programming. Each first-year student participates in the Servant Leadership Project in his or her second semester and they’re paired with a faculty member and peer mentor in their area of interest to plan, organize and implement a service-learning project.
Students participate in this program as part of their academic program and projects take place during regular academic sessions. Students partnered with multiple area non-profit organizations and K-12 schools to implement several of the completed projects. The Office of First Year Experience and an AmeriCorps VISTA member also support this program.
“Congratulations to Campbellsville University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities. We salute all the Honor Roll awardees for embracing their civic mission and providing opportunities for their students to tackle tough national challenges through service,” Patrick A. Corvington, chief executive officer of CNCS, said.
CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master’s degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.