Presidential Recognition

Titans have been doing a lot of good in the local community and abroad — more than 1.3 million hours in community service to be precise.

For their efforts in tutoring, food and blood drives, assisting in Vietnamese clinics and other activities to meet local needs, as well as course-related and voluntary service in the community, the university earned a place on the U.S. President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the fourth consecutive year.

Being named to the honor roll is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service.

“At Cal State Fullerton, community engagement is a value, a practice and a tool, and it is evident in all that we do,” said President Milton A. Gordon in the recently released 2011 Community Engagement Report, which documents the wide range of service campus members have provided. “Leveraging such national honors as this, as well as the considerable other resources that are available to us as one of the country’s major public research universities is another way that we pursue community engagement opportunities that address our mission.”

“These accomplishments wouldn’t be possible without the continuing commitments to community engagement demonstrated every day by faculty internship coordinators, service-learning instructors, departmental and program placement coordinators, the Volunteer & Service Center and many other offices on campus,” said Dawn Macy, associate director of the Center for Internships & Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Highlights

• 2009-10
  1,313,445 hours of total service reported, including 1,190,833 hours of course-related service and 122,612 hours of non-course related service, completed by 18,094 students.
• 2010-11
  1,433,120 hours of total service reported, including 1,248,132 hours of course-related service and 184,988 hours of non-course related service completed by 18,151 students.
• Volunteer & Service Center partners with local community agencies to provide student volunteers who serve more than 12,000 hours each year. Students focus on various issues, such as the environment, hunger and homelessness, at-risk youth, young adults with special needs, blood donations and social justice programming.
• 2011 Community Engagement Award recipients included:
  — the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance and Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County for their partnership with the university
  — Jennifer A. Yee, assistant professor of Asian-American studies, Outstanding Service-Learning Instructor Award
  — Diana Robles-Nichols, lecturer in child and adolescent studies, Extraordinary Internship Coordinator Award

Oct. 4, 2011