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East Tennessee State University has been named to the 2007
national President’s Higher Education Community Service
Honor Roll, after earning the honor in the inaugural listing
in 2006.
Of the 12 Tennessee schools attaining this year’s
recognition, the only public institutions are ETSU and
Northeast State Technical Community College.
“ETSU students, faculty, and staff have created several
innovative community partnerships over the years,” says
ETSU’s Assistant Vice President for Community Engagement,
Learning and Leadership Dr. Deborah Harley.
“Our educational support for the migrant workers’ children
is second to none. We live our commitment as a green campus
and have led the way in a computer recycling collaboration
with the public schools. Since the 1987 establishment of
Volunteer ETSU and the 1994 campus beginning of
service-learning, the university has helped set the stage
for a new culture of service in Tennessee higher education.”
Harley adds, “ETSU is a model of excellence for service
programs in the state and nationally. Among a student
population of 13,000, some 3,000 participated in community
service projects during the past year.”
The Honor Roll program is an initiative created in response
to U.S. President George W. Bush’s call to service by
building on and supporting the civic engagement mission of
the nation’s colleges and universities.
The program’s Website at
http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/programs/initiatives_honorroll.asp
explains that the Honor Roll is sponsored by the Corporation
for National and Community Service, the President’s Council
on Service and Civic Participation, the U.S. departments of
Education and Housing and Urban Development, and in concert
with Campus Compact. Its goal is “to increase public
awareness of the contributions that students, faculty, and
staff are making within their local communities and across
the country through volunteer service,” and the program
“also identifies and promotes community service model
programs and practices in higher education.”
Recent studies show that in 2006, 2.6 million college
students gave 297 million hours of volunteer service. The
Honor Roll program hopes to encourage a growth in
participation to five million students by 2010.
Examples of the many ways ETSU students serve the community
include:
The Hunger Banquet: A part of the
observance of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week by the
national Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness,
the Hunger Banquet is a highly interactive illustration of
the unequal distribution of food and wealth nationally and
globally. Some 200 people participated in the banquet,
raising over $300 in donations and 200 pounds of food for
Second Harvest Food Bank. This commitment to hunger
awareness results in another annual campus-wide food drive
as part of ETSU’s Homecoming celebration.
PASTA: Providing Area Schools with
Technical Assistance, or PASTA, pairs ETSU computer science
seniors with public schools. The students provide 75 hours
per semester of technical assistance. As ETSU computers are
replaced, students sanitize them, reinstall software, and
donate them to local schools. In the last academic year, 29
ETSU students provided 2,175 hours of service, 34 schools
were assisted, and 578 computers were donated.
Reality Store: ETSU student Andrew Rose
noticed a concept entitled “Reality Store,” which was
developed by the Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of
Indiana. He enlisted the aid of his fellow Leadership House
residents to take the project to two local schools, where
youngsters explored career interests, received an assigned
monthly income based on their anticipated career choice,
were assigned a family and marriage status, and then
traveled to booths where they used a mock budget sheet to
make decisions about housing, food, clothes, transportation,
child care, health care, insurance, and vacations. The
process provided real world experience with a focus on the
importance of education and managing a lifestyle along with
the resulting expenses typical of most families.
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