Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.49
Liaison Krista Bailey
Submission Date Dec. 17, 2020

STARS v2.2

Pennsylvania State University
EN-13: Community Service

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.58 / 5.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 1 of this credit (student participation in community service)?:
Yes

Total number of students:
39,798

Number of students engaged in community service:
14,605

Percentage of students engaged in community service:
36.70

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (community service hours)?:
Yes

Total number of student community service hours contributed annually:
2,453,640

Number of annual community service hours contributed per student:
61.65

Does the institution have a formal program to support employee volunteering during regular work hours?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s program to support employee volunteering:

Penn State University occupies a unique and vital fundraising role in the annual Centre County United Way Campaign. In a typical year 40% of the total United Way dollars raised come from university employees who support the United Way through contributions and special event fundraisers. Penn State maintains an active Centre County United Way Steering Committee and contributes innumerable in-kind support services.

Many units on campus host a United Way committee, which works to inspire other faculty and staff to make a difference, encourages monetary contributions via payroll deduction, and raises additional funds through holding special events, such as sales of pizza, gift baskets, and raffle tickets, and social events such as an "office Olympics".

Many employees volunteer at the annual United Way Day of Caring, where faculty, staff, and students participate in a variety of work projects - such as painting, cleanup, and repairs - that benefit local community non-profit organizations. Further, employees are essential volunteers organizing and running the Trash to Treasure annual sale of student leftovers, and the Special Olympics competitions held each summer at Penn State.

Employees also provide support to the annual student-run IFC/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) fundraiser, described in Notes. For example, Penn State Food Services formed a committee to provide nutritional guidance and support for THON dancers. Some Transportation Services staff volunteer to work long hours to oversee parking at the event. Other employees support student-led activities and events.

The Penn State University Park campus offers an institutional-level annual service award, the Barash Award for Human Service, which recognizes a full- time member of the faculty, staff, or student body who has contributed most, apart from regular duties, to human causes, public service activities and organization, or the welfare of fellow humans.


Does the institution track the number of employee community service hours contributed through programs it sponsors?:
No

Total number of employee community service hours contributed annually through programs sponsored by the institution:
---

Website URL where information about the institution’s community service programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Number of students = undergrad FTE enrollment @ UP campus for Fall 2018, from Penn State Fact Book. Numbers for student participation in community service are based on the results of a Spring 2017 Student Experience survey, which is administered to undergraduates every 3 years by Student Affairs. We used the response to one question "During this current semester, how many hours do you spend in a typical week... volunteering/ participating in community service?", to estimate the number of students who participate (based on the percentage of respondents who reported >0 hours = 36.7%), and the total number of hours volunteered (based on the average hours per week spent by participating students =5.9), and extrapolating to a 30 week academic year.

Penn State is home to the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world, the IFC/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon, known as THON. The 46-hour dance marathon, held on Penn State's University Park campus, raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund, a program at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital that helps families of children with cancer. Since its beginning in 1973, THON has raised more than $114 million. Through campus organizations and THON Committees, more than 15,000 students volunteer for THON each year.


Number of students = undergrad FTE enrollment @ UP campus for Fall 2018, from Penn State Fact Book. Numbers for student participation in community service are based on the results of a Spring 2017 Student Experience survey, which is administered to undergraduates every 3 years by Student Affairs. We used the response to one question "During this current semester, how many hours do you spend in a typical week... volunteering/ participating in community service?", to estimate the number of students who participate (based on the percentage of respondents who reported >0 hours = 36.7%), and the total number of hours volunteered (based on the average hours per week spent by participating students =5.9), and extrapolating to a 30 week academic year.

Penn State is home to the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world, the IFC/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon, known as THON. The 46-hour dance marathon, held on Penn State's University Park campus, raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund, a program at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital that helps families of children with cancer. Since its beginning in 1973, THON has raised more than $114 million. Through campus organizations and THON Committees, more than 15,000 students volunteer for THON each year.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.