UC Clermont s Barbara Wallace honored with President s Call to Service Award

Barbara Wallace, director of UC Clermont College’s College Success Program, has been honored with the President’s Call to Service Award. The national recognition acknowledges a minimum of 4,000 hours of volunteer service—both personally and professionally.

Humbled by the award, Wallace insists on deferring the credit, saying she’s tremendously gratified to have worked behind the scenes on a variety of projects through the years.

“The award recognizes the important work that’s been done by so many other people—because in my position, I build the program and match faculty and student resources with identified community needs,” she explained. “I have to give credit to those who make it possible for me to do this work: the ongoing support of the administration, wonderful faculty, committed students, and our terrific community partners.”

A life-long advocate for social justice issues, with an emphasis on poverty alleviation and literacy, Wallace has championed UC Clermont’s Service Learning program since her arrival on campus four years ago.

“Service learning combines community service with classroom instruction and focuses on reflection, critical thinking and civic responsibility,” she explains. “In addition to instruction in the classroom, students learn from the community. These programs help students reach outside their comfort zones to gain a better understanding of the needs of the people in the surrounding area.”

First introduced to the concept in 1995, Wallace has implemented Service Learning programs at several higher education institutions prior to joining UC Clermont. Presently, she works with Zach Bartush, the College’s Americorps VISTA Service Learning and Civic Engagement Coordinator, to organize and promote service opportunities to both faculty and students.

The program currently includes courses in a variety of disciplines. In the past two academic years, 405 students completed nearly 5,200 service hours with 20 different community partners, mostly in the Clermont County region.

For more information on the President’s Volunteer Service Awards, visit

www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/

. More information about UC Clermont College’s Service Learning program can be found

www.ucclermont.edu/Service_Learning/default.html

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