Valparaiso University Receives Presidential Recognition for Exemplary Community Service

Valparaiso University has again been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, joining a group of select universities and colleges across the country that are honored for their support of volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

In addition to receiving distinction for general community service, Valpo was named with distinction to two new honor rolls: education and economic opportunity.

“As this honor reflects, students at Valpo not only engage in service, they create dynamic projects specific to our context, global community, and faith traditions,” said Elizabeth Lynn, director of the Institute for Leadership and Service. “By supporting students to lead and serve in these extraordinary ways, Valparaiso University is placing graduates on a lifelong path of service and civic learning.”

Sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Honor Roll annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve.

Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the breadth, depth, 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.

Valpo prepares women and men who are highly sought for their knowledge, character, integrity, and wisdom. The University recognizes that opportunities for life-changing service experiences not only benefit individuals and communities but also deepen students’ understanding of the world and themselves, and each year Valpo students dedicate more than 90,000 hours to community service.

Through countless service-learning experiences including mentorship programs, domestic, and international service trips, and organizations like Engineers Without Borders, Valpo students, faculty, and staff work tirelessly to improve the lives of others — on campus, in the greater Valparaiso community, and throughout the world.