SF State receives national Presidential Award for civic engagement, community focus
May 16, 2011 -- The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative, has selected San Francisco State University to receive its Presidential award, recognizing the University’s support of volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
SF State is one of six colleges and universities to receive Presidential Awards in the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service.
A total of 851 institutions applied for the 2010 Honor Roll, which highlights efforts to engage students in making a difference in the community. SF State will be one of six institutions recognized nationally for exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.
“At San Francisco State University, we seek to prepare our students for lifelong engagement with the issues and needs of the world around them. Service learning is a powerful expression of that mission,” said President Robert A. Corrigan. “I am proud that hundreds of SF State faculty and tens of thousands of SF State students have built our service learning program into a University hallmark.”
As one of the most ethnically and racially diverse urban campuses in the country, SF State has increased the number of local minority students admitted by offering after-school, college-level classes to disadvantaged students of color in more than 15 high schools. Through community partnerships, SF State students volunteer in community projects that provide health education, English language classes for immigrants, violence prevention programs, and educational programs for at-risk youth.
SF State has long been at the forefront of progressive civic engagement by creating the country’s first College of Ethnic Studies in 1968, the Step to College program in 1980 and the Office of Community Service Learning in 1997.
The University’s commitment to community service-learning is reflected throughout the colleges, with 47 departments offering students more than 500 courses linking hands-on community service with academic study. This focus on community engagement has resulted in 389,210 documented hours of student and faculty service to the community during academic year 2009-10.
San Francisco State partners with government, business and educational leaders to advance its commitment to civic engagement. The University, through many of its departments and institutes, partner city and county of San Francisco agencies to extend its community engagement work to more of the city’s stakeholders.
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. 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.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit http://www.NationalService.gov.
San Francisco State University is the only master's-level public university serving the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. The University enrolls more than 30,000 students each year. With nationally acclaimed programs in a range of fields -- from creative writing, cinema and biology to history, broadcast and electronic communication arts, theatre arts and ethnic studies -- the University's more than 205,140 graduates have contributed to the economic, cultural and civic fabric of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
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