The Corporation for National and Community Service announced that Lee University made the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition awarded.
Lee was selected for the General Community Service Honor Roll with distinction. It was one of 115 schools that were identified with distinction and one of 652 schools listed on the General Community Service Honor Roll.
“Our service-learning program continues to be recognized as one of the best in the country because of the efforts of our students, faculty, and staff,” said Dr. Mike Hayes, vice president for student development at Lee. “With tremendous support from our community partners, the Lee family continues to impact a myriad of people in the Cleveland community and around the world."
Lee has been incorporating service-learning into its education program since 2003. The Lee University Leonard Center organizes service opportunities to prepare students for Christian citizenship through reflective community interactions that encourage a commitment to the ideals of service, benevolence, civic virtue, and social justice.
“Being named to the Presidential Honor Roll with distinction for another year is only possible because of the service of thousands of Lee students that are committed to a lifestyle of helping others,” said Dr. William Lamb, director of the Leonard Center. “It also speaks to the value of service-learning that the Lee community places on the educational experience.”
All students are required to obtain 80 hours of community service during their time at Lee in order to shape them into global citizens. Service-learning is not just a requirement at Lee, but a relationship. Students invest weekly into building service-oriented relationships around the community.
“Service has been one of the most impactful parts of my time at Lee,” said Lee student Shawna Wood. “Through service embedded courses, Urban Outreach, the Student Leadership Council, and many other opportunities, my ideas about service, what it looks like and why we do it, have shifted. I believe that service gets us outside of ourselves, and it is in these moments that I have grown the most.”
The CNCS has placed Lee on the Honor Roll since its beginning in 2006. The university was awarded the Presidential Award in 2009.
The Honor Roll highlights higher education that encourages exemplary community service programs and raises the visibility of effective practices in campus community partnerships.
The President’s Honor Roll is the most prestigious recognition a university can receive for its hard work through community, service-learning, and civic engagement. The Honor Roll highlights four categories including General Community Service, Interfaith Community Service, Economic Opportunity, and Education.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the President's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information about the CNCS, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/.
For more information about service-learning at Lee, visit http://leeuniversity.edu/service-learning/ or contact the Leonard Center at 614-8614.