Newswise — Misericordia University has been named by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service — the only college or university in Northeastern Pennsylvania to receive the distinction.
“Service is a staple of a Misericordia education. It is an honor that we have been named to this Honor Roll every year that we have applied,’’ said Linda Ross, director of the Office of Service-Learning at Misericordia University. “The added designation places us on a select list of only 13 schools in Pennsylvania and 114 in the country to be recognized for an even greater level of service.
“Misericordia has a rich tradition of responding to community needs through academic based service-learning and extensive outreach service through Campus Ministry, and other club activities that support community programs. By imbuing in each student a sense of service to others, Misericordia is helping students discover the opportunities they need to be successful in both their careers and lives,” she added.
The Community Service Honor Roll was launched in 2006. It is the highest federal recognition a college or university can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees were chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service. Of the 641 colleges and universities recognized this year, 511 were named to the Honor Roll, 114 received the recognition of Honor Roll With Distinction, 11 were identified as finalists and six received the Presidential Award.
“This year the CNCS evaluation process was even more stringent with a strong focus on project effectiveness and assessing impact on the community,” Ross adds. “It is reaffirming to us that the work our students do is making a measurable impact on communities here and around the world.”
The Religious Sisters of Mercy founded Misericordia based on four tenets that outline its mission of mercy, service, justice and hospitality. Since then, the university community has advocated service and volunteerism among its students, faculty and staff.
Sixty-three percent of Misericordia students engage in service-learning through credit-bearing courses in addition to their clinical and fieldwork related courses. Eighty percent of all students, faculty and staff reported participating in other sponsored service and volunteer related activities with an action orientation. Misericordia’s strategic plan embraces a seamless integration of mission and academic excellence and calls to increase both those numbers to 90 percent by 2015.
During the 2009-10 academic year, MU students provided 104,022 service hours to the community with 885 Misericordia students being engaged in academic service-learning courses and an additional 352 students participating in community service. The university also had 384 students who were engaged in at least 20 hours of community service per semester.
Among the unique Misericordia projects that inspired the CNCS award is the university’s Speech Language and Hearing Center in the College of Health Sciences on Lake Street. Since 2004, speech-language and pathology (SLP) majors have offered therapy to men, women and children at an on-campus clinic. The clinic serves anyone with a communication disorder whose insurance ended before goals were met, those without insurance and those who cannot otherwise receive SLP therapy. Operating year-round, this is the only clinic in the Wyoming Valley that is free, though a free-will payment is accepted. The service has since expanded to children in a pre-school developmental program at the Wyoming Valley Children’s Association and at two community Head Start classes.
“The clinic blends our dedication to our historic mission and our commitment to academic excellence very well,’’ said Ross. “By establishing a clinic within the university to address individuals’ long-term needs and providing service in the community at agencies serving other social and educational needs, our students are learning not only valuable professional clinical skills, but also the value of service that they will take with them after graduation.”
Service opportunities come in many forms at Misericordia. Campus Ministry organizes service teams that focus on at-risk children and issues of poverty, empowerment for those in need and social justice. Campus Ministry has spearheaded service-based learning trips to Jamaica, Philadelphia, Savannah and Miami. Misericordia students tutor at the McGlynn and Mineral Springs learning centers, Kids Café and the Dallas, Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Valley West school districts. Students also facilitate First Book, a national program that provides children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own new books. Misericordia students operate a homeless coalition task force and serve meals at a local shelter and soup kitchen and rotate overnight staffing on a monthly basis at an all-women’s shelter.
Sister Miriam Stadulis, director of the McGlynn Learning Center, says the extensive, weekly interaction by Misericordia students and those from other colleges and universities in the community with the disadvantaged students in her center has had a tremendous impact. During the 2009-10 year, 100 percent of the McGlynn Center children advanced to the next grade, none were involved with the juvenile justice system, and none were placed with foster care families or involved with drugs.
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is a collaborative program with CNCS and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. CNCS reports that in 2009, 3.2 million college students dedicated more than 307 million hours of service to communities across the country, service valued at more than $6.4 billion.
For more information about service or service-learning at Misericordia University, please call Ross at (570) 674-6322 or e-mail her at [email protected]. Founded and Sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County’s first four-year college and offers 32 academic majors on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full and part-time formats.
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