Press Releases

Naropa University Receives Community Service Award
Students listed on President’s Higher Education Honor Roll

BOULDER, Colo. (April 3, 2007)—Naropa University has been named to the first-ever President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This distinction recognizes the students, faculty and staff for helping to build a culture of service and civic engagement.

Naropa University is one of four schools in Colorado to be honored, joining Colorado State University, Johnson & Wales University and Mesa State College.

Naropa University students supported more than 60 diverse Centaurus High School (Lafayette, Colo.) students as they identified and addressed public issues of importance to them.  Integrated into ESL, Diversity, and AVID (Advanced via Individual Determination) classes at Centaurus through the university’s Public Achievement program, the Naropa-Centaurus collaboration culminated in the coordination of seven projects that addressed issues ranging from racism and immigration rights to the war in Iraq to the needs of bilingual students.

In January 2006, four Naropa University students and staff met with the Lafayette City Council and other community stakeholders to establish a Lafayette Youth Advisory Committee, and thereby provide youth with opportunities to engage in local politics and share their voice with the greater community.  In response to their efforts and months of discourse, the Lafayette City Council moved to institutionalize the committee, which met for the first time in April 2006.

Nearly 70 Naropa University students, faculty, and staff convened last September to coordinate two hurricane-relief working groups.  In addition to establishing a support committee, through which psychology students and staff counseled individuals who were displaced or in other ways impacted by Hurricane Katrina, 54 Naropa University students formed an action and outreach group as a means to both increase community communication around university-sponsored hurricane-relief efforts and mobilize individuals to actively participate in organized service projects and events. 

Naropa students continue their efforts in Public Achievement through programs facilitated by the university, such as Project Outreach, and the university has enrolled over 2,500 students into the UCAN Serve AmeriCorps program.

Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology and religious studies.

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