2006 Service Statistics

• A. Purpose and Methodology
• B. Institutional Information
• C. Community Service/Service-learning/Civic Engagement on Campus
• D. Faculty Roles and Rewards
• E. Infrastructure

Faculty Roles and Rewards

Faculty Involvement in Service-learning

In the 2005-06 academic year, a total of 12,577 faculty members offered a course that incorporated a service component, compared to 10,008 in 2004-05 and 8,056 in 2003-04. Respondents reported a range of 1 to 320 faculty members offering courses with a service component across institutions with an overall average of 25 faculty members per campus. This is slightly lower than last year’s average of 27 faculty members per campus. The three previous years averaged 25 in 2003-04, 24 in 2002-03, and 22 in 2001-02. The computed percentage of faculty who taught a service-learning course in the 2005-06 academic year is 12%. This percentage was calculated using the reported number of full-time faculty and the number of faculty teaching a service-related course.

Institutional Support for Faculty in Service Programs/Service-Learning Courses

Respondents were asked to examine the types of support that are present at their institution for faculty to include service/civic engagement into their curriculums. Thirty-four percent (34%) of institutions reported rewarding community-based research or service-learning in faculty review, tenure, and/or promotions. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of institutions reported that faculty were not rewarded for community-based research or service-learning, while 29% reported that they did not know. This is a dramatic change from the previous two years when respondents reported that 85% of faculty were rewarded in 2004-05 and 83% in 2003-04. The wording in the survey question was exactly the same so the disparate responses are probably not due to survey construction. It is hard to believe that there was overwhelming policy changes at so many institutions, but perhaps this area needs a more in-depth review on the institutional level.

As shown in Figure 9, institutions were most likely to provide support for faculty involvement in service/civic engagement program and service-learning courses by providing curriculum models and/or syllabi (77%) and by providing materials to assist faculty in reflection and assessment (76%). Institutions were also more likely to provide faculty development workshops (73%). Institutions were less likely to support faculty involvement in service-related activities by providing sabbaticals for service-related activities (18%). Institutions were also less likely to give faculty awards for their service-related activities (40%).

Comparisons with previous years indicate that the drop in the percentage of faculty receiving information about service-learning during their orientation has reversed its downward trend (53% in 2003-04 versus 49% in 2004-05 and back to 53% in 2005-06). However, the percentage of institutions that provide faculty development workshops has declined slightly from last year. (77% in 2003-04 versus 74% in 2004-05 and 73% in 2005-06).

Of those 13% of respondents that suggested there were other ways in which faculty were supported by the institution to be involved in service-related activities, the most frequently occurring responses included (a) monetary incentives (awards, grants, and stipends); (b) the existence of a service learning faculty liaison and coordinator; and (c) recognition for service involvement.