Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif. May 18, 2011—The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) honored Santa Clara University as a leader among institutions of higher education for their support of volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. Santa Clara was admitted to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for engaging its students, faculty and staff in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community. This is the fifth consecutive year the university received this award. 

There are several programs at Santa Clara—across all disciplines—that offer students opportunities for active engagement, research, and service oriented-learning. One such program, Arrupe Placements, includes approximately 50 community partners throughout Santa Clara County and, each year, allows nearly 1,200 students to learn through community engagement. The university also implemented its new core curriculum in 2009, which requires students to participate in some form of community-based learning during their undergraduate years.

On campuses across the country, millions of college students are engaged in innovative projects to meet local needs, often using the skills learned in classrooms. In 2009, 3.2 million college students dedicated more than 307 million hours of service to communities across the country, service valued at more than $6.4 billion. Business and law students offer tax preparation and legal services, and college student volunteers provide meals, create parks, rebuild homes after disasters, conduct job training, run senior service programs, and much more.

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. For a full list of recipients and descriptions of their service, visit www.NationalService.gov/HonorRoll.

About Corporation for National and Community Service
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 www.NationalService.gov.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contact:
Connie Kim Coutain | ccoutain@scu.edu | 408-554-5126 O | 408-829-4836 C