Eastern Recognized by President Obama!

On March 12, at the American Council on Education’s Annual Conference in Los Angeles, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced that Eastern has been named to President Obama’s 2012 Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction.
The Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. Eastern was selected in recognition of our commitment to service and civic engagement on our campus and in our local communities.

Of 14 colleges and universities in Connecticut who made the honor roll, Eastern was joined only by the University of Connecticut in the “with distinction” category.  Nationally, we were in the company of such institutions as Stanford, Villanova, Notre Dame, and Cornell.  In addition, the only other COPLAC school that made the “with distinction” category was SUNY-Geneseo.

“Community service has been a hallmark at Eastern since our earliest days in the 1890s as the Willimantic State Normal School,” said Eastern President Elsa Núñez. “Today, our Center for Community Engagement works closely with our faculty to ensure that the service that our students perform in local communities aligns with their academic programs.  In providing upwards of 15,000 hours a year of service to more than 40 local agencies and nonprofits, Eastern students are demonstrating their social responsibility while learning valuable professional and organizational skills. At the same time, the hours that our students provide to client agencies each year exceeds $400,000 in value.  To be recognized by President Obama as a university that exemplifies such service is something that everyone on our campus should be proud of.”