Ohio Wesleyan Earns U.S. Presidential Recognition for Fifth Consecutive Year
Ohio Wesleyan has earned recognition on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. During the 2011-2012 academic year, more than 1,580 OWU students volunteered nearly 44,300 hours to help others. During this mission trip to Apalachin, N.Y., OWU’s Greek community aided people impacted by severe flooding. Shown here are Chi Phi member Rob Williams ’12 of South Carolina and Kappa Alpha Theta member Mary Elizabeth Pease ’12 of Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of OWU’s Office of University Chaplain)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the fifth consecutive year, Ohio Wesleyan University’s civic-minded students have been recognized for their positive contributions to society by the national President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
Launched in 2006, the Honor Roll “annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.” The list was announced this week by the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, D.C.
“Communities are strengthened when we all come together, and we are encouraged that these institutions and their students have made service a priority,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in announcing the new Honor Roll. “Civic engagement should be a key component of every student’s education experience. Through reaching out to meet the needs of their neighbors, these students are deepening their impact, strengthening our democracy and ultimately preparing themselves to be successful citizens.”
A total of 690 higher education institutions were named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Of this number, 113 institutions – including Ohio Wesleyan – earned the recognition of Honor Roll with Distinction.
During the 2011-2012 academic year, more than 1,580 Ohio Wesleyan students volunteered nearly 44,300 hours to help others locally, nationally, and internationally. Nationwide, 3.1 million college students dedicated more than 118 million hours of service – a contribution valued at $2.5 billion.
“This year alone, Ohio Wesleyan students engaged in service and service learning in nearly every nonprofit agency in Delaware and in numerous schools in Central Ohio, as well locations such as the Lakota Nation, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, El Salvador, Nicaragua, India, Romania, Japan, Tel Aviv, and Cuba,” Sally Leber, Ohio Wesleyan’s director of service learning, reported to the Corporation for National and Community Service. “Ohio Wesleyan’s commitment to service permeates nearly every aspect of campus life – the classroom, off-campus programs, Travel-Learning Courses, competitively funded Theory-to-Practice Grants, the Spring Break Mission Program, independent student initiatives, residential life activities, Greek Life, athletics, student employment, and campus organizations.
“Ohio Wesleyan values service and service learning; the University actively seeks students, faculty, and staff who share this ethos,” Leber concluded. “Today, as universities strive to assess outcomes, we have only to look at the lives of our alumni to find solid evidence that thoughtful and intentional civic engagement creates meaning in lives and effects positive change in our communities and throughout the world.”
The Corporation for National and Community Service manages the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll 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. Honorees are chosen based on 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. View the full list of 2013 honorees.
In 2009, Ohio Wesleyan was one of three colleges and universities nationwide to receive a Presidential Award for Excellence in General Community Service – the highest honor a school can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.
Learn more about service at Ohio Wesleyan.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.