College named to President’s Honor Roll

SAN MARCOS — Cal State San Marcos 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 is the fourth year in a row that the college has earned this recognition.
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.
“Congratulations to Cal State San Marcos 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.”
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.
“Community service is an important component of our commitment to being a university fully engaged in our community,” Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes said. “Student interactions address community-identified needs, deepen their civic and academic learning, and enhance community well-being while enriching the scholarship of the institution.”
Last year, 2,820 students were engaged in 166,000 hours of regional community service or service learning projects — an increase of nearly 60 percent of the year before and represents, at minimum wage, a value of $1.3 million for their services.