Washington Monthly’s 2010 master’s granting university rankings, which measure quality based on service, social mobility and research, list California State University, Fresno 22nd in the United States and second among California colleges.

The rankings are determined by how well schools recruit and graduate low-income students, produce “cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs” and encourage students to give something back to their country.

The intent is different from most rankings of universities, Washington Monthly acknowledges. “Instead of asking what a college could do for you, we asked, ‘What are colleges doing for the country?’” the magazine says in an article accompanying the rankings.

“Yes, Yale might educate a disproportionate number of future hedge fund managers. But is it laying the foundation for the kind of nation we want to become?” the article continues.

“This is another confirmation that we really do have a culture of service here at Fresno State,” said Chris Fiorentino, director of Fresno State’s Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning.

“I was very happy to see the areas where we appear the strongest against our peers are in financial aid/work study funds spent on service (sixth nationally) and community service participation and hours (ninth),” Fiorentino added.

In 2009-10, Fresno State documented 1.16 million hours of volunteer time from 12,168 Fresno State students, faculty, staff and administrators. The help at scores of programs, agencies and events during the academic year provided from Fresno State was valued at $28 million to a central San Joaquin Valley region hit hard by the nation’s economic malaise.

In just the past two weekends, hundreds of students from Fresno State helped remove debris from the San Joaquin River and its banks, staffed the student-established Bulldog Pantry food bank and played many roles at the gubernatorial debate hosted on campus.

In addition to incorporating service-learning into the core academic mission, Fresno State also offers American Humanics certification to students learning how to be leaders in nonprofit organizations when they leave campus.

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