EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University’s student-volunteer program – which has done everything from help rebuild Katrina-ravaged New Orleans to tutor generations of school children – has won a prestigious federal award.
MSU was presented today with the 2008 Presidential Award for General Community Service, becoming one of only 18 colleges and universities – and the first in Michigan – to win a presidential award since it was launched in 2006.
The university was chosen based on the stability, growth and impact of its student-volunteer program, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal government agency that presents the award. The award is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
MSU’s 40-year-old Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement – the oldest continuously operating student-volunteer program in the nation – has seen its student rolls double in the past five years, reaching a record 14,551 in 2007-08.
“As the pioneer land-grant institution, Michigan State has a long and vibrant tradition of community engagement,” said MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. “This honor represents our continued commitment to expand opportunities for our students to work with community partners across mid-Michigan, the nation and the world.”
Through the center, MSU students work with more than 360 nonprofits, including public schools, youth-serving agencies, hospitals, senior citizen facilities and neighborhood organizations. In some cases the community work is part of a course, such as a freshman writing class that created free promotional materials for a voter registration drive and a refugee center.
Other projects are student-driven. Alternative Spring Break, for example, is a registered student organization that has helped with hurricane cleanup in Louisiana and rain-forest restoration in Puerto Rico.
The center, which grew out of student activism, was established in 1968 as the Office of Volunteers. Karen McKnight Casey, the center director, remembers volunteering with the office as an MSU student in the early 1970s.
“Students today are aware of their impact on society, and they participate because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “That’s personally gratifying, because back in the 1960s and early ’70s we did these kinds of things because they were the right thing to do, addressing the issues and needs of the times.”
While the early 1990s were seen as the “careerism years” – when volunteering was popular to boost one’s resume – Casey said the “pendulum has swung back.” Many of today’s student volunteers, she said, are interested in addressing social issues such as climate change and health-care inadequacies.
“In the ’60s there was a sense of purpose. I think students again are feeling that sense of purpose,” Casey said.
For MSU junior LaTasha Jeter, volunteering is a chance to make a difference in the lives of children. Jeter, a human biology major from Detroit, has tutored first-graders at Bingham Elementary School in Lansing for two years as part of a federal work-study program. She also volunteers as a Girl Scout leader at the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing.
“Sometimes you see kids go the wrong way in life,” said Jeter, 20, who’s studying to be a physician. “Maybe if they see me, I can be a role model for them.”
Casey said MSU’s community partners typically determine what help they need. Officials at Bingham Elementary, for example, requested more than 100 student volunteers to serve as academic mentors and after-school program assistants this year – and the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement met the request.
“For me, this really is about MSU’s commitment to community,” Casey said. “There are many institutions that have rhetoric around working with community, but MSU means it.”
Six colleges and universities won a presidential award this year. In addition to MSU, the General Community Service winners were California State University-Fresno and Emory University. Winning the Presidential Award for Service to Youth from Disadvantaged Circumstances were Brookhaven College, Duke University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Many other colleges and universities were named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
“In this time of economic distress, we need volunteers more than ever,” said Nicola Goren, acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “We salute these colleges and universities for making community service a campus priority, and thank the millions of college students who are helping to renew America through service to others.”
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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact.