NDNU Nationally Recognized for Community Service

announced this week it has received a top award from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Belmont university is already known for its dedication to public service around town -- NDNU students collaborate with Nesbit Elementary students for a science education project, among other things -- and has now been admitted to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction.

A total of 641 colleges and universities were admitted to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006. The colleges and universities are recognized for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth.

Of those 641 schools, 511 were named to the Honor Roll, 114 received the recognition of Honor Roll with distinction, 11 were identified as finalists and six received the Presidential Award.

“NDNU is totally committed to the principles of social justice and community engagement. It is part of our institutional DNA and a critical component in an NDNU education,” said NDNU President Judith Maxwell Greig in a statement.

NDNU was recognized for three of its community service ventures:

• Serving the homeless in cooperation with Shelter Network, where NDNU students provide more than 10,000 hours per year providing such services as tutoring, program planning, community garden management and art therapy.
• An annual collaboration between NDNU and several social service agencies in the Tenderloin involving 150 students and 19 faculty who work with youth and organize or help organize several notable events including “Halloween in the Tenderloin” and several sports clinics.
• A science education project with Nesbit Elementary School in Belmont that brings NDNU students into the classroom to help teach science to K-3 students. It also brings the children to the NDNU campus once a year so they can see and do science in the “big” labs.

“We are proud of these three programs but they are only a few of the many programs that involve both day and evening students in undergraduate and graduate programs in direct community service either as part of their coursework or on a volunteer basis,” Greig said in the statement.