Honors & Awards

HSU Wins National Service Award

Humboldt State University is again the winner of the highest national honor that universities receive for contributions to service learning and civic engagement.

HSU has been named to the 2011 President’s Higher Education Community Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal program launched in 2006 to foster community service and service-learning programs. Honorees are chosen on the basis of several criteria: the scope and innovation of service projects, the percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

The HSU Service Learning Center promotes reciprocal connections among students, faculty, and community members through integrated academic coursework and service in the community, and to encourage the development of socially and environmentally responsible citizens. The overall goal is to encourage student civic engagement and experiential learning through service assignments that enhance social and environmental justice. For example, HSU students and faculty have contributed to the design of interactive exhibits for children at the Discovery Museum and helped youth to develop their academic and social skills in Arcata School District’s After School Programs.

Annie Bolick-Floss, the Service Learning Center’s Director, said, "We have fabulous, engaged faculty and wonderful community partners who help enhance student’s academic knowledge in serving local community needs."

President Barack Obama has made service learning a central objective of his administration and the recognition of Humboldt State by the Corporation for National and Community Service reflects the high level of student involvement in Redwood Coast communities. On-campus partnerships include over a dozen different student-run community service programs under the aegis of Youth Educational Services (Y.E.S.), as well as volunteer activities supported in the campus’s residence halls and many clubs on campus. Over 1,400 HSU students involved in various Service Learning programs contributed more than 73,000 hours of service to local communities and agencies in 2011 alone. Local community partners include AmeriCorps, Eureka City Schools, United Way, Humboldt County Office of Education, Volunteer Center of the Redwoods, Food for People, Redwood Community Action Agency, United Indian Health Services, and Friends of the Dunes, just to name a few.

HSU has been named to the Honor Roll in the past for contributions, for example, the Hurricane Katrina relief. The Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” series has recognized HSU as a “College With a Conscience” for its commitment to social and environmental responsibility, embodied in the university’s annual Graduation Pledge.

HSU Spotlighted as "College with a Conscience"

Humboldt State University is named a "Best Western College" and a "College With A Conscience" in the Princeton Review’s recently released 2009 Best Colleges: Region by Region.

Humboldt State is among 117 universities to receive a "Best in the West" designation. The review quotes students describing HSU as a "great place to go to school," and "a place to be yourself and to learn all about what you want to do in life." Students also described a focus on "responsibility to nature and the environment."

In including Humboldt State as one of 81 "Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement," the review noted "Social responsibility is a current that runs through the coursework at HSU." A student is quoted as saying that "one overarching lesson HSU graduates bring to the world at large is a strong commitment to social justice no matter the discipline they choose to study."

The review says "Students rave about the 'personal connections' with 'dedicated professors' who are 'easy to get a hold of.'" Other students commented that HSU fosters "the skills for lifelong learning, community and political awareness," and said that the student body "prides itself on community respect and social diversity." HSU, students said, is "all about equality in diversity" and is a "tight community."

In developing its rankings, the Princeton Review compiles student opinion on issues from accessibility of their professors to the quality of campus food, and incorporates institutional data compiled by the organization.

SL/CE In Action

The following video shows how HSU Service Learning is empowering the community and transforming education.

Humboldt students and faculty use their skills to design interactive exhibits for children at the Discovery Museum, and help youth build their academic and social skills in the Cutten School District.

Students and faculty across all CSU campuses give back to their communities in varied ways. The CSU Center for Community Engagement page has more examples of some of the amazing talent at the 23 campuses.

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