Dear Parents,

Earlier this spring, Providence College was named by the Corporation for National and Community Service to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for our exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth. The award recognized the ongoing work of students, faculty, and staff through five initiatives of the College's Feinstein Institute for Public Service that promote and provide services to our surrounding community.

This kind of national attention for our community service efforts is not new for Providence College. When the Feinstein Institute was founded in 1993, it was the first academic program in the nation to offer a bachelor's degree in public and community service studies. Today, the Department of Public and Community Service Studies is a full academic department with designated faculty and a distinctive pedagogy based on service learning. In addition to offering a wide range of service learning courses open to all students, the Feinstein Institute coordinates all off-campus work study positions, assigning capable and committed students to a wide range of community partners where their services make a tremendous difference in how well these key organizations serve their constituents.

Establishing a culture of service continues to be a major strategic priority for the College and holds a prominent place in our latest strategic plan. I believe that service to others is an integral part of our students' life-changing experience.

The impulse of PC students to engage in voluntary community service is reflected in a wide range of activities sponsored by many different campus offices, clubs, and organizations. The Office of the Chaplain/Campus Ministry offers students numerous options for service including the opportunity to tutor local school children, enrich the spiritual life of residents at a nearby extended care facility, visit patients at three Providence hospitals, coordinate Special Olympics events, conduct religious education at six parishes, and befriend children living in a group home.

The Urban Action program - initiated by Providence College students in 1991 - provides incoming freshmen with an opportunity to make a positive difference in the community that will be their "home away from home" for the next four years. Over the last 17 years, nearly 2,300 freshmen have participated, with many returning each year as leaders. Past projects have included working with the City of Providence's Parks Department to improve the status of city-planted trees and restore city parks; clearing brush and preparing fields for a new organic gardening project at the Urban Edge Farm; cleaning pastures and outbuildings to create a community farm for Providence families; and digging trenches for the city to lay electric lines for a community sports league.

Throughout the academic year, our student athletes teach and coach local school teams; accountancy students provide volunteer income tax assistance; Admission Ambassadors mentor disadvantaged middle school boys; students from several campus organizations teach ESL classes, clean the neighborhood streets surrounding the campus; help plant and maintain community gardens, and work at local food pantries and soup kitchens. Students also participate in Habitat for Humanity building projects locally during the academic year and use their spring break to assist at building sites up and down the East coast.

When viewed in its totality, this inspiring array of service directly impacts our surrounding neighborhood and wider community in a very positive and significant way. In total, during the Fall 2007 semester, nearly 1,900 students contributed over 19,500 hours of service to more than 80 local youth agencies, churches, hospitals, schools, and libraries. This is an amazing amount of service for a college that does not require a service component for the general student population.

At a deeper level, these numbers speak to an ethic of service that many students bring to their college experience, as well as to the fact that others discover the virtues and rewards of service as part of their Providence College education. Often it is through service that our students come to recognize the essential dignity and worth of each human person and truly realize their ability to "transform society."

We regularly receive thanks and accolades from the people our students serve. "PC students are so accepting of our disabled adults," notes the director of a center serving developmentally disabled adults and children. "The way they work with them you would think they had known them for years. The students have increased our clients' self-esteem and made them feel good about themselves."

"Whatever needs to be done, the PC kids do it," adds the director of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The state's Special Olympics director attests, "We work with many colleges and admire all our student volunteers, but there's a unique mindset at Providence College. The entire PC community seems to embrace public service."

I am immensely proud of our PC students and the important work they do within our community. My prayer is that their desire to serve and improve the world around them will become an essential part of their lives and a hallmark of their Providence College education.

 
Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.