Chicago, IL – The Corporation for National and Community Service named DePaul University to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.

“Service to the community is at the heart of DePaul University’s mission, so we are particularly gratified to be recognized for our service-learning efforts,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University.

Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors, including scope and innovativeness 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.

Each year, DePaul University students provide thousands of hours of volunteer service to the community by working through numerous different programs coordinated through DePaul’s University Ministry and Student Life offices. “DePaul’s students have made a major difference in the lives of countless people through scores of volunteer opportunities,” said Mark Laboe, associate vice president of University Ministry.

Additionally, DePaul provides students extensive service learning opportunities that are coordinated through the university’s Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and Community Service Studies. Over 2,800 DePaul students took part in service learning programs during the past academic year, providing critical support to scores of social service agencies throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.

“Service learning exemplifies the idea that students learn best by doing,” said Howard Rosing, executive director of the Steans Center. “Over the 10 years since DePaul first embraced the service-learning concept, we have produced thousands of graduates who have been able to enter the working world better equipped to immediately meet the demands of the non-profit and service sectors.”

In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, “Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country.”

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

Overall, the Community Service Honor Roll awarded six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, four schools were recognized as Special Achievement Award winners, 127 as Honor Roll With Distinction members and 391 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 528 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

“There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded,” said American Council on Education President David Ward. “Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations. For more information, go to http://www.nationalservice.gov.