For the second year in a row, California State University, Dominguez Hills has been recognized for its support of volunteerism, service learning and civic engagement. CSU Dominguez Hills has been named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers the honor roll, evaluated the applications of more than 600 colleges and universities as to their impact on issues such as literacy, neighborhood revitalization, and at-risk youth. Out of the 511 institutions ultimately named to the 2010 honor roll — presented this year for community service over the past year — CSU Dominguez Hills was one of 115 universities nationwide, and one of 15 in California, to receive the “with distinction” designation.

“The ‘with distinction’ designation is an indication that Dominguez Hills displays strong institutional commitment to service and has formed compelling partnerships that produce measurable results in the community,” said Cheryl McKnight, director of the CSU Dominguez Hills Center for Service Learning, Internships and Civic Engagement.

In 2010, approximately 5,500 students at CSU Dominguez Hills engaged in more than 120,000 hours of service to the community, according to McKnight. This includes nursing students who volunteered at the Remote Area Medical free clinic that served thousands of Angelinos in the L.A. Sports Arena in April 2010; environmental science and biology students who helped with native species restoration at Madrona Marsh and Gardena Willows; the hundreds of students who volunteer their time to work with local elementary, middle and high school students, or participate in beach or river cleanups throughout the year. In addition students, faculty and staff donated and collected gifts to give to needy children during the holiday season, worked at homeless shelters, and also organized a disaster relief drive to raise money and supplies to aid in recovery efforts after the earthquake in Haiti.

Earlier this year, the university also was given the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.