From the Greenville News, Tuesday, August 31, 2010:
Furman among nation’s top service-oriented schools
By John C. Stevenson • STAFF WRITER •Published: August 30. 2010 4:30PM
A new poll puts Furman University near the top of all liberal arts colleges in terms of “contributing to the public good.”
For the second consecutive year, Furman made Washington Monthly magazine’s list of service-oriented schools, which are said to meet their public obligations in the areas of research, service, and social mobility, according to a release from the magazine.
This year, Furman ranked 40 of 252 schools, a slight tumble from last year’s poll, which ranked Furman at 29th.
Furman’s Vince Moore, director of news and media relations, said “just to be included is an honor, because Furman is interested in its service component.
“A lot of prospective students are looking for colleges that are interested in the public good,” Moore said. “They want to do more than just go to class and take tests and so forth. And it’s good to know that if they want to get involved in community activities, that Furman is the sort of school that provides a platform for that.”
The magazine said schools were graded on criteria including social mobility, or recruiting and graduating low-income students; research, or producing “cutting-edge scholarship”; and service, or encouraging students to give back to their country.
Moore in particular singled out the university’s Heller Collegiate Education Service Corps which, according to its Web site (www.hellerservicecorps.org), was founded in 1965 with six students, and is now the school’s largest student organization.
“Service has always been one of Furman’s major emphases,” Moore said.
The annual college guide will appear in the magazine’s September/October issue.