While Bowling Green State University students pursue their own education, they are involved in many ways
to ensure that others also have opportunities to learn and succeed. The university’s commitment to both
community service and to learning from it has earned BGSU a place on the 2010 President’s Higher
Education Community Service Honor Roll, published annually by the Corporation for National and Community
Service.
BGSU was named to the Ohio "Honor Roll with Distinction," along with Ohio State and Wright
State universities. The corporation oversees the honor roll in collaboration with the Department of
Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact (of which BGSU is a member) and
the American Council on Education.
More than 600 colleges and universities nationally were recognized for exemplary, innovative and
effective community service programs this year. Ohio made a strong showing, said Dr. Jane Rosser,
director of BGSU’s Office of Service-Learning.
"BGSU is in good company. Making the ‘with distinction’ category speaks to the kind of impact our
programs have on the community. This is a national recognition for a campus that takes seriously
engagement in community service and service-learning."
The numbers of BGSU students participating and the hours they spent are impressive -nearly 9,000 students
gave 252,066 hours from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010 – but the numbers alone do not convey the breadth
of service and the personal growth they represent.
The three programs BGSU submitted to the committee as expressive of its service philosophy were:
¥ Access BG, an arts-enrichment collaboration among the Chapman Learning Community, the Department of
Theatre and Film, and Toledo’s Libbey High School, designed to encourage students to stay in school;
¥ The America Reads Program in the Martha Gesling Weber Reading Center of the College of Education and
Human Development, which brings BGSU student reading tutors to 11 locations in Wood and Lucas counties
and served almost 650 children last year;
¥ EDHD 2010, a course representing a partnership between the college and the Literacy Serve and Learn
program that brings education majors into Toledo Public Schools classrooms.
The last two programs are both first-year experiences and "very labor-intensive," Rosser said.
They also represent strong partnerships between faculty and staff members.
BGSU defines curriculum-based service-learning as a "credit-bearing educational experience in which
students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs, and reflect
on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of curricular content, a broader
appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility."