The school has also earned a classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a community engaged university.

Redlands landed the 2006-07 Jostens Community Service Award, which recognizes the efforts of about 55 football players and coaches who spent one to two weeks volunteering on the Gulf Coast.

And the University of Redlands was one of five California schools named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which honored several Katrina-related efforts.

The Jostens award is sponsored by the school memorabilia company and administered through the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators. Redlands was selected in the single project category, one of three categories in the national program.

The honor roll award was established by the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency commissioned to promote volunteerism. The University of Redlands was a winner in a special category recognizing hurricane relief efforts.

Redlands is one of the only universities in the country to send an entire athletic team to the area to volunteer, university officials said.

"I continue to be extremely proud of the staff and young men involved in the Bulldog football program," said Jeff Martinez, director of athletics. "Their motivation for assisting with the hurricane relief efforts certainly was not to seek recognition. In fact, I am confident that each of them would tell you that they gained more from this experience than they gave."

In addition to the football team, more than 70 students organized by the Community Service Learning Office volunteered in Slidell, La., during spring break or May Term.

Students spent most of their time "mucking," a grimy, grueling process that involves removing water-soaked furniture, carpeting and other belongings from flooded homes. In some homes, students stripped out soggy drywall and ceilings, leaving only the frames.

Students stayed in bare-bones camps, sleeping on cots and eating sandwiches or food brought by grateful residents.

"They worked very hard," said Tony Mueller, director of community service learning at the university. "This was a life-changing experience for many of these students. It transformed them."

In another recognition, the Carnegie Foundation has classified Redlands as a "community engaged university" for its collaboration with the larger community in two categories, Curricular Engagement (teaching, learning and scholarship that engages faculty, students and the community) and Outreach & Partnership. Redlands is one of 67 schools in the nation to earn the classification.

Higher education institutions that achieve the classification have developed the practice of community engagement to the point where it's an integral part of the culture, according to the foundation.

"Service awards and recognition are great tributes to our models of service learning and how students and faculty embrace and execute the concept," Mueller said.