Calvin receives national recognition for community engagement

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected Calvin College as a recipient of the 2010 Community Engagement Classification-an honor bestowed on just 115 higher education institutions.

Calvin received this recognition for both its curricular engagement and also for its partnerships and outreach-where teaching, learning and scholarship engage faculty, students, and community in mutually beneficial collaboration. These interactions have addressed community-identified needs, deepened students' civic and academic learning, enhanced community well being, and enriched the scholarship of the institution.

Community engagement has been central to Calvin's academic mission for decades. In the last 15 years, an increasing number of faculty have been utilizing academically based service learning as a teaching strategy with very positive results.

In the college's last accreditation process, the school developed an extensive Self-Study Report and an entire chapter was devoted to community engagement and service.
 
In 2010, Calvin was chosen for the 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.

According to the most recent National Survey of Student Engagement (fall 2009), 80-percent of Calvin seniors reported participating in community service at some point in their Calvin career (as compared to 59-percent of seniors at Carnegie peer institutions).

In addition to successful service-learning projects, Calvin faculty have partnered with community organizations and residents in community-based participatory research projects. For example, the Nursing Department has partnered with three urban neighborhoods to address health concerns voiced by residents and together they are studying how to improve health issues in urban Grand Rapids.

In addition, the Biology department raises native plant species in the Calvin greenhouse and provides these plants and technical assistance to local schools, libraries, churches and neighborhood associations who are interested in developing on-site rain gardens to help promote ecological restoration. And the Communication Arts and Sciences department produced the acclaimed "Eating in Place," a documentary about local food in west Michigan. The department also provides a student-staffed stroke clinic.

"Our students and our faculty want to serve and they want to use their knowledge and skills for the good of local communities," said Calvin's provost Claudia Beversluis. "We are pleased that Carnegie recognizes our efforts."

For more info on the honor, visit http://www.carnegiefoundation.org

-end-

Matt Kucinski
Media Relations Manager
Calvin College
msk23@calvin.edu
616.526.8935 (office)
616.307.7429 (cell)
Received on Tue Jan 11 14:15:25 2011