Shepherd University has been named to the 2013 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 marks the fifth year Shepherd has received the honor.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized nearly 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental injustice. 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.

Shepherd’s Office of Student Community Services and Service Learning has as its mission to promote, organize, and assist campus outreach initiatives by effectively placing individual students, groups and academic and social organizations in situations that embrace learning through service.

Student Community Services works directly with nonprofit agencies and initiatives, both locally and nationally, to create opportunities that are mutually beneficial to both the agency and Shepherd’s students. By understanding the goals of the volunteers and the recipients, successful matches are madethat create lifelong learning, leadership development and a deeper understanding of diverse populations.

The CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.