Date: Aug 02, 2011

Hofstra Tops In Volunteerism

Hofstra makes President's Honor Roll for Community Service

Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. --  For the third straight year, Hofstra University has been named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its “exemplary commitment to service and volunteering”.

Hofstra was one of 114 colleges and universities – out of 851 that applied nationwide – to receive the “Honor Roll with Distinction” designation as an institution whose students, faculty, staff and alumni show the highest level of dedication to community service and civic engagement. Hofstra also made the honor roll in 2008 and 2009.

The University offers students opportunities to volunteer in the community in a variety of ways, through the Office of Student Leadership and Activities. Among them: Service Days, in which students spend time during the weekends doing community service in the local area, volunteering as mentors and tutors at local elementary schools, and working in community soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

For the past three years, Hofstra has offered incoming first year students an optional pre-orientation program: The Discovery Program, in which students arrive prior to the start of the general orientation session to learn about social and environmental issues and engage in experiential learning activities around those issues.  During the past year the University sponsored the “75 Acts of Kindness” program , which generated participation in volunteer projects throughout the 2010-11 academic year as a way to commemorate Hofstra’s 75th Anniversary.

“We’re so gratified to make this Honor Roll for the third consecutive year – it speaks not only to our commitment as an institution to service in and outside of the Hofstra community, but to the character of our students,” said Sandra Johnson, Vice President for Student Affairs. “Civic engagement and community service are part of Hofstra’s core values, and we know from experience that volunteerism enriches the volunteer as much as it does the community.”

The Honor Roll recognizes colleges and universities for exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs. Honorees are chosen based on a series of factors including the percentage of students participating in service projects and programs, the school’s commitment to campus-community partnerships and measurable outcomes as the result of student service.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution of higher education where more than 12,000 full and part-time students choose from undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, communication, education, health and human services, honors studies, a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. With a small average class size (21 students) and low student-teacher ratio (14 to 1), the University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students’ interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future. Located in Nassau County, New York, on over 240 acres, the University is less than an hour from midtown Manhattan.