Nineteen years ago, a national Campus Compact survey of its 235 members found that just 16 percent of students were involved in volunteerism and 59 percent of college presidents described their faculty’s involvement in supporting service efforts as "little" or "not at all."

At the time the compact was founded in 1985, college students were being portrayed in the media as "self-absorbed and materialistic."

By 2006-07, things had changed: 30 percent of students at 1,100 member institutions either were volunteering or participating in service-learning courses, and 80 percent of members had an office or center overseeing service-learning and/or civic engagement efforts.

So, what’s the story in Minnesota? Above average. Of course. According to the 2009 Minnesota Campus Compact survey [PDF], 35 percent of students at member institutions are volunteering or participating in service learning. Meanwhile, 80 percent of respondents reported that "service/civic engagement was explicitly stated in their institution's strategic plan."

Now 15 years old, the 50-member Minnesota Campus Compact on June 17 will present the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration.

Three finalists have been announced:

• Augsburg College's Campus Kitchen Project,founded in 2003, serves 2,000 meals a month in collaboration with 12 community partners, sponsors a community garden, offers classes with neighborhood youth and hosts the West Bank Farmers Market.

• The University of Minnesota's Cedar Humphrey Action for Neighborhood Collaborative Engagement (CHANCE) project "builds the capacity of neighborhood stakeholders and graduate students through collaborations with the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood Revitalization Program, West Bank Community Coalition and West Bank Business Association."

• The Community Justice Project of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, in partnership with the St. Paul chapter of the NAACP, "advocates for changes in laws and policies that negatively impact communities of color, improves dialogue among community and government stakeholders, and supports restorative justice and reintegration programs."

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page will be the speaker at the awards luncheon. More details here.

"...We seek not only to engage students in multiple ways of contributing to positive change in communities, but also to mobilize other institutional resources in mutually beneficial partnerships with communities," said Julie L. Plaut, executive director of the Minnesota Campus Compact.