First Time “Honor Roll with Distinction” Status on the President of the United States’ Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll Reflects Improvements and Growth in University Service Learning Initiatives.
California State University (CSU), Stanislaus has been recognized with the President of the United States’ Higher Education Community Service Award by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This is the fifth consecutive year CSU Stanislaus has received the honor, and the first year the university has been placed on the Honor Roll with Distinction, recognition reserved for the top tier of honorees.
“We are extremely grateful to receive this award recognizing the excellent work faculty, staff, and students are doing in our community,” said President Hamid Shirvani. “We continually seek to enhance our students learning through service opportunities that inspire them to become active and engaged citizens.”
Honorees are chosen based on the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service learning is embedded in course curriculum, commitment to long-term community partnerships, and measurable outcomes as a result of community service.
The CSU Stanislaus Office of Service Learning works closely with university faculty on more than 60 classes per academic year that support the learning experiences of over 3,000 students through community involvement. These initiatives provided over 45,000 volunteer hours of service to the community in the past year.
Examples of CSU Stanislaus community engagement activities include a mentoring at-risk youth, a reading readiness program, a high school mathematics access program, science education in K-12 classrooms, and focus on public policy, healthy families, and environmental sustainability. Some specific programs include the following:
Turlock Head Start Readiness: CSU Stanislaus has a long history of strong and reciprocal partnerships with the Turlock Head Start programs from Crane, Cunningham, Wakefield and Osborn elementary schools. Head Start families have the opportunity to attend a spring campus tour and attend a fitness camp to learn how to stay healthy through fun sports-related activities and healthy eating habits. The CSU Stanislaus soccer field is transformed into different sport “stations” for activities such as Dodgeball, Soccer and Kickball. Under the direction of the Men’s Basketball Coach, CSU Stanislaus students work with the younger students in learning sports related activities, provide information on healthy eating habits and encourage them to think about higher education in their future.
Child Development School Readiness Program: The Parent Child Home Program (PCHP) is an innovative collaboration supported by the University and the Parent Resource Center in Modesto. CSU Stanislaus is the only university-based PCHP program nationwide. Currently, in its seventh year, this evidenced-based, research-validated early childhood literacy and school readiness program teaches CSU Stanislaus Child Development students how to provide early intervention to low-income families with children ages 2-4 who are identified to be at risk in the areas of literacy and social - emotional development.
Geography Neighborhood Asset Map: CSU Stanislaus urban geography students worked with fourth grade classes at Orville Wright Elementary School in the Airport Neighborhood in Modesto to learn about the power of geographic technology to map and learn about their community. University students and faculty helped the Orville Wright students record locations and capture site photographs to put on a map of the Airport Neighborhood. The Orville Wright students also wrote about the significance of the location they recorded. All of the pictures, student descriptions, and geographic data were compiled by CSU geography students onto a map based on the fourth graders’ view of their neighborhood.
Make a Splash into Science: Dr. Mark Grobner and CSU Stanislaus biological sciences students worked with over 300 second grade students on the Life Cycles Project. CSU Stanislaus students enrolled in the course, “Vertebrate Embryology,” set up aquariums with tadpoles in 17 local Turlock elementary school classrooms, so that the younger students could learn about the vertebrate life cycle by following the development of young tadpoles as they mature into frogs. The project culminated with the elementary students visiting the CSU Stanislaus campus over a three-day period to release the maturing tadpoles into Willow Lake and tour the new Naraghi Hall of Science.
Over the last 50 years, California State University, Stanislaus has grown to be a touchstone of higher learning, intellectual pursuit, artistic excellence, and cultural engagement for California’s Central Valley and beyond. We serve our diverse student body, region, and state with programs, partnerships, and alumni responsive to an evolving and interconnected world. To learn more about us and how we’ve progressed, go to www.csustan.edu.
California State University (CSU), Stanislaus has been recognized with the President of the United States’ Higher Education Community Service Award by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This is the fifth consecutive year CSU Stanislaus has received the honor, and the first year the university has been placed on the Honor Roll with Distinction, recognition reserved for the top tier of honorees.
“We are extremely grateful to receive this award recognizing the excellent work faculty, staff, and students are doing in our community,” said President Hamid Shirvani. “We continually seek to enhance our students learning through service opportunities that inspire them to become active and engaged citizens.”
Honorees are chosen based on the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service learning is embedded in course curriculum, commitment to long-term community partnerships, and measurable outcomes as a result of community service.
The CSU Stanislaus Office of Service Learning works closely with university faculty on more than 60 classes per academic year that support the learning experiences of over 3,000 students through community involvement. These initiatives provided over 45,000 volunteer hours of service to the community in the past year.
Examples of CSU Stanislaus community engagement activities include a mentoring at-risk youth, a reading readiness program, a high school mathematics access program, science education in K-12 classrooms, and focus on public policy, healthy families, and environmental sustainability. Some specific programs include the following:
Turlock Head Start Readiness: CSU Stanislaus has a long history of strong and reciprocal partnerships with the Turlock Head Start programs from Crane, Cunningham, Wakefield and Osborn elementary schools. Head Start families have the opportunity to attend a spring campus tour and attend a fitness camp to learn how to stay healthy through fun sports-related activities and healthy eating habits. The CSU Stanislaus soccer field is transformed into different sport “stations” for activities such as Dodgeball, Soccer and Kickball. Under the direction of the Men’s Basketball Coach, CSU Stanislaus students work with the younger students in learning sports related activities, provide information on healthy eating habits and encourage them to think about higher education in their future.
Child Development School Readiness Program: The Parent Child Home Program (PCHP) is an innovative collaboration supported by the University and the Parent Resource Center in Modesto. CSU Stanislaus is the only university-based PCHP program nationwide. Currently, in its seventh year, this evidenced-based, research-validated early childhood literacy and school readiness program teaches CSU Stanislaus Child Development students how to provide early intervention to low-income families with children ages 2-4 who are identified to be at risk in the areas of literacy and social - emotional development.
Geography Neighborhood Asset Map: CSU Stanislaus urban geography students worked with fourth grade classes at Orville Wright Elementary School in the Airport Neighborhood in Modesto to learn about the power of geographic technology to map and learn about their community. University students and faculty helped the Orville Wright students record locations and capture site photographs to put on a map of the Airport Neighborhood. The Orville Wright students also wrote about the significance of the location they recorded. All of the pictures, student descriptions, and geographic data were compiled by CSU geography students onto a map based on the fourth graders’ view of their neighborhood.
Make a Splash into Science: Dr. Mark Grobner and CSU Stanislaus biological sciences students worked with over 300 second grade students on the Life Cycles Project. CSU Stanislaus students enrolled in the course, “Vertebrate Embryology,” set up aquariums with tadpoles in 17 local Turlock elementary school classrooms, so that the younger students could learn about the vertebrate life cycle by following the development of young tadpoles as they mature into frogs. The project culminated with the elementary students visiting the CSU Stanislaus campus over a three-day period to release the maturing tadpoles into Willow Lake and tour the new Naraghi Hall of Science.
Over the last 50 years, California State University, Stanislaus has grown to be a touchstone of higher learning, intellectual pursuit, artistic excellence, and cultural engagement for California’s Central Valley and beyond. We serve our diverse student body, region, and state with programs, partnerships, and alumni responsive to an evolving and interconnected world. To learn more about us and how we’ve progressed, go to www.csustan.edu.