Marquette was named to the president’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll March 12 due to the university’s service programs and service learning opportunities.

The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education released the list. Marquette is one of 11 Wisconsin schools named on the list, which consists of 672 colleges and universities from across the country.

Marquette has been named to the list every year since 2008. In university President the Rev. Scott Pilarz’s March 20 forum with students, he said service is a continuing theme in university discussions.

Kimberly Jensen Bohat, Marquette’s director of service learning, was part of the group in charge of the application process and said this listing is great for Marquette’s service background.

“It’s a great recognition, especially with the recent call to service brought in with Fr. Pilarz’s inauguration,” Jensen Bohat said. “It’s a nice highlight to have at Marquette.”

Schools can apply in two categories: general service commitment and special focus areas, she said. The three special areas include promise neighborhoods, summer learning and innovations in early-childhood education.

The three general area service programs used as part of the university’s application were the Marquette School of Dentistry Rural Outreach Initiative, where dental students and faculty provide care for high risk populations; the Trinity Fellows Program, a 21-month graduate fellowship promoting the university’s mission; and the MARDI GRAS service program, which has brought service to the Gulf region after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.

The three special focus area projects considered under the summer learning category for Marquette were the iHeels Summer Academy, a hands-on engineering experience for women; NurseCamp, a program sponsored by the College of Nursing’s BEYOND (Building Ethnic Youth Opportunities for Nursing Diversity) project; and Upward Bound, a program servicing low-income high school students in tutoring and advising.

Projects are judged both on their depth and their effectiveness and impact in the community.

The final decision on the list is left to President Barack Obama, but the application is something Marquette plans on continuing every year to build on the importance of service, Jensen Bohat said.