UW–Madison receives national recognition for community service

UW–Madison has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

The awards, administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues such as poverty, homelessness and environmental justice.

UW–Madison was also on the honor roll in 2007 and 2008.

Colleges and universities apply for the honor roll and are judged based on the scope and innovation of their service projects, the percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers service-learning courses.

The Morgridge Center, along with other campus units such as the Office of Service Learning and Community-Based Research in the College of Letters & Science, and fraternities, sororities and student organizations, promote and support a variety of curricular and co-curricular service opportunities.

Randy Wallar, associate director of the Morgridge Center, estimated that approximately 15,500 UW–Madison students were engaged in community service of some kind last year, contributing 200,000 hours to various projects. Two thousand students took part in academic service learning.

Among the community service projects included in UW–Madison’s application were:

• The Habitat for Humanity student chapter, with some 450 students who provided an estimated 9,000 hours of service to the organization;
• MEDiC, local free clinics where students assist physicians and nurses who provide acute care services to the underserved and underinsured citizens in the community; and
• The Center for Global Health, an example of students providing service to the world community. The program focuses on developing global health education programs, advancing global health research, facilitating global health partnerships and exchanges, and fostering an interdisciplinary network of global health scholars and practitioners.

Edgewood College, UW-Parkside and UW-River Falls were also among the Wisconsin colleges and universities named to the 2009 honor roll.