Presidential Nod to SUU Program
Published: October 22, 2015 | Author: Thomas Ybarra | Read Time: 2 minutes
In the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama awarded The National Humanities Medal to the Clemente Course in the Humanities on September 10th, 2015. Utah’s Venture Courses are housed under the network of national Clemente Courses and has been a course offered by Southern Utah University since 2010. SUU is honored to offer such a program and is pleased to be a part of such a distinguished award.
The National Humanities Medal is honored to individuals and organizations that work toward expanding American’s access to cultural resources or deepening and broadening citizens’ engagement in human experiences, literature, and history. Since 1996 the award has been given to 163 individuals and 12 organizations.
Utah’s Clemente Course in the Humanities is a program dedicated to offering accredited college courses in the liberal arts tuition-free to people living on low incomes with limited education. To ensure students can attend classes textbooks are included, and the course offers to pay for child care if needed.
SUU’s Venture course is a partnership with Utah Humanities and Utah’s Clemente Courses. Offering the program since the fall of 2010, SUU has offered multi-disciplinary college courses free of charge to low-income adults in southern Utah. The eight-credit, two-semester course offers areas of study in art history, philosophy, literature, American History and critical writing/thinking. SUU’s Venture is taught by five professors to a class size of 22 to 25 students.
"Venture is an invaluable opportunity for both academic and personal growth,” said Venture Program Director Lindsay Fullerton. “Over 90% of our graduates cite increased confidence in expressing their ideas and opinions. Our students demonstrate a desire to continue not only their educational path, but also show the way for their future generations.”
Southern Utah University is honored that its commitment to providing educational services to low income families in southern Utah was recognized with such a distinguished award by President Barack Obama.
Fullerton went on to say that “Venture strikes at our institution’s core theme of community & social responsibility, and we feel grateful to be one of many institutions across the nation to offer this course."
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