Contact Ms. Kendall M. Stiles, Director of The GIVE (Georgia College State University Invovled in Volunteer Efforts) Center or visit the web site for more information.

Mission Statement:
To involve students, faculty, and staff in service activities that mutually benefit the campus and community. The Center for Service and Learning collaborates with other campus units, develops community partnerships, promotes service learning, and coordinates programs in order to further the academic and public purposes of the university.

Vison: To make service a distinctive aspect of the educational culture at IUPUI.

Slogan: Connecting campus and community through service.

Values:

The staff of CSL values programs that
are innovative, cohesive, and educationally meaningful
change lives through a commitment to the ethic of service
improve social conditions in the community
involve reflective practice that informs participants
build upon campus and community assets

The staff of CSL values program operations that:
use teamwork to improve program implementation
employ creative leadership to foster effective collaboration
demonstrate scholarly rigor
monitor and assess outcomes for program improvement
use resources in an ethical, informed, and effective way

The staff of CSL values collaborative relationships that:
celebrate and recognize the contributions of others
promote integrity and commitment
are formed through constructive dialogue
develop over time
respect diverse perspectives of all stakeholders

Goals and Objectives:

To support the development of service learning classes.
Increase the number of faculty teaching service learning classes.
Increase understanding and support for service learning among administrators in each academic unit on campus.
Collaborate with campus teaching and learning initiatives to provide resources.
Increase student enrollment in service learning classes.

To increase campus participation in community service activities.
Expand Community Service Scholarship program.
Develop and secure resources to support involvement in community service.
Increase ways to recognize those involved in community service activities.

To strengthen campus-community partnerships.
Expand Office of Neighborhood Resource range of campus-community partnerships.
Deepen and expand the WESCO-IUPUI partnership.
Collaborate with campus units and central Indiana communities to develop and implement a visionary civic agenda for IUPUI.

To advance the scholarship of service.
Collaborate with faculty and departmental units on scholarship and research. Collaborate with national organizations on scholarship and research. Conduct research and disseminate results to stakeholders.

To promote civic engagement in higher education.
Document the various campus forms of Civic Engagement.
Build consensus among academic leadership of the importance of civic engagement to meet school and campus mission.
Collaborate nationally to further higher education’s commitment to civic engagement.

http://csl.iupui.edu

California State University, Monterey Bay was founded in 1995 to address two complementary sets of needs. The California School System, anticipating an influx of new students in the coming decades, needed a new university to educate them. The Monterey Bay community needed a new support system for the community, which was facing the massive loss of jobs after the closing of a nearby military base. The new university, founded on the old site of the military base, seeks to simultaneously meet the educational and community needs of Monterey Bay.

As expressed in its founding vision statement, the university is framed by substantive commitment to a multilingual, multicultural, intellectual community distinguished by partnerships with existing institutions, both public and private, and by cooperative agreements which enable students, faculty, and staff to cross institutional boundaries for innovative instruction, broadly defined scholarly creative activity, and coordinated community service.

The structure and format of the university flow from this mission. The curriculum focuses heavily on multilingual, multicultural education and technological instruction for both undergraduates and professionals. Service-learning and community engagement are thoroughly incorporated into study. Every service-learning course is developed with input from community members and team-taught by interdisciplinary groups of faculty members and representatives of community organizations.

All students are required to take a course on community participation, the stated purpose of which is to generate enthusiasm for service and prepare students for a lifetime of community participation. All students also take at least one service-learning course specific to their major.

Majors, too, are structured around the unique vision of the university. Traditional departments are replaced with interdisciplinary, theme-based specialty clusters that are formed around community issues rather than academic concepts. Thus, a student might major in Learning Systems or Earth Systems, Science, and Policy. Students complete their study by demonstrating their ability to participate in diverse communities, a demonstration that includes producing a description detailing the assets and needs of a local neighborhood. On an inter-institutional level, cooperative agreements enable students and faculty to work closely with other local institutions and community organizations, both public and private.

From its structure to its curriculum to its community collaborations, CSU, Monterey Bay is an institution formed around a driving mission. Taken together, this set of values provides a vision of higher education defined by community engagement.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: http://service.monterey.edu

SDSU Service Learning home: http://servicelearning.sdsu.edu/
E-mail: servicelearning {at} sdsu(.)edu

After much thought and discussion, CSUB decided against the immediate imposition of this requirement. The reasons are, simply, that first, virtually all CSUB students are commuters and work 30+ hours a week. To add a community service requirement on top of their other academic and personal responsibilities seemed unrealistic. Second, even if the University wanted to require a community service experience, the campus lacked the staff and resources to provide such an opportunity. Finally, faculty needed additional training time and orientation to properly supervise the students in such placements. The faculty had not worked out how community service could best fit into the curriculum and be made meaningful for students. The CSUB Academic Senate’s advice was to proceed carefully. The President and deans have taken this advice to heart, although we are still determined to move forward.

Contact person: Krista Buckner, Director of Community Service Programs, kbuckner {at} csubak(.)edu

Background:
In May 1999, Father O Donovan announced an inclusive, campus-wide effort led by Provost Dorothy Brown to develop a new University mission statement. This initiative grew out of an on-going conversation at Georgetown on ways to strengthen and enhance our Catholic and Jesuit identity. Last year, Dr. Brown chaired a drafting committee that included eight faculty members and a student. A draft statement was circulated widely throughout the University community in the fall 1999 semester.

Georgetown University s New Mission Statement:
Approved by Georgetown s Board of Directors this September and officially announced by Father O Donovan at his annual Faculty Convocation address on September 20, 2000, the University s new mission statement reads:

“”Georgetown is a Catholic and Jesuit, student-centered research university.

Established in 1789 in the spirit of the new republic, the University was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding. We embody this principle in the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff, our commitment to justice and the common good, our intellectual openness, and our international character.

An academic community dedicated to creating and communicating knowledge, Georgetown provides excellent undergraduate, graduate, and professional education in the Jesuit tradition – for the glory of God and the well-being of humankind.

Georgetown educates women and men to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life, and to live generously in service to others.”"

Website: http://www.georgetown.edu/

The new Office of University-Community Partnerships is directed by a faculty member, has a small staff, and an advisory board comprised of faculty, staff, students, and community leaders. The office will provide assistance to faculty seeking to add or enhance a theory-practice-learning component to their courses and also provide assistance to community-based agencies and organizations for research-oriented activities. The office will support 6-8 undergraduate courses next year and 2-4 community-based research projects. A key objective of the office will be to build a greater sense of community and awareness among the various schools at Emory (college of arts and sciences, medicine, public health, nursing, law, business, and theology) regarding the teaching, research, and service activities of Emory faculty, staff, and students, and also provide more responsive and intensive linkages between Emory and the community.

Contact person: Michael J. Rich, Director, Office of University-Community Partnerships, oucp {at} emory(.)edu

OUCP web site: http://oucp.emory.edu/

help students incorporate community service experiences into their education.
assist MU faculty in adopting creative, experiential community-based teaching methods
carry out the civic education portion of Millikin’s mission
make a positive impact upon Decatur and the other communities in which we serve

Website: http://www.millikin.edu/servicelearning/

In an effort to expose students to the three-way connection between one s own personal values, beliefs and culture; the college s mission and vision; and the needs of the community, the college developed the UC LEAD (Union College Leadership Education and Development) process. Through the avenues of self-exploration, practice, and reflection the UC LEAD process provides skills for meaningful service and ultimately, preparation for life long learning, civic involvement, and personal responsibility.

Using a model outlining “”stages”" of personal development ranging from Exploration to Integration and Expertise, students are challenged to connect the impact areas of service (self, campus, community) with elements of their own personal mission statements and the mission and vision statements of the college.

LEVEL I: EXPLORE & DISCOVER
What can I explore and discover about my community, region and self? How do I increase my levels of awareness of diversity? Where and how could I begin? How are terms such as social justice and reflective thinking defined?

LEVEL II: FOCUS & PLAN
Where should I focus my interests? How can planning help me to be a more effective servant-leader? How do I become a better listener and how is that important? How do I develop skills such as identifying real needs and developing creative solutions?

LEVEL III: MENTOR & MODEL
How can I apply my leadership training and experiences to be a more effective mentor? How do my actions affect others?

LEVEL IV: INTEGRATE & CREATE
How can I integrate my experiences into my academic interests and career and life plans?

Through intense and active training, hands-on experience, and guided reflection, we expect that Union College graduates will serve, in some capacity, as catalysts for positive social change and model citizenship the rest of their lives.

In the initial planning stages for this day, the schools were asked to engage in a needs assessment that involved school staff, parents, and students to determine a project which met a specific need in the community and, at the same time, engaged students as well as enhanced their learning. These projects were identified as a result of School-Site-Council discussions and joint sessions between Lesley College and Cambridge school representatives, including the student government organizations. The Lesley College Council for Community Service worked with members of the President’s Office to facilitate planning of ABC Day over the course of six months.

The specific project of the Agassiz School showcases Lesley College undergraduate students as active, community citizens. This particular Cambridge community project was concerned with homelessness. Over the course of a month, students throughout the school collected cans from neighborhood residents for a citywide food pantry. On April 10th, after the cans had been collected, this group of students also made lunches for the homeless in Harvard Square. Lesley College students who are members of the undergraduate service club walked with the Agassiz students into the Square, helping with the distribution of food, while sharing in a discussion with the students about the issue of homelessness in our communities.

As Lesley College celebrates its 90th anniversary, the ABC Day is a good example of a campus-wide initiative that clearly indicates the long-standing commitment of the college to the development of active, educated citizens among its students and to the cultivation of collaboration between the College and its surrounding communities.

The centerpiece of the College is a certificate program in Citizenship and Public Service. Undergraduates and graduate students earn the certificate by completing a set of courses that incorporate community service and civic education, and by finishing a substantial community service project.

While Tufts public service activities are broad in scope, the UCCPS places emphasis on work to strengthen preK-12 education. The focus on this initiative on education for active citizenship is accompanied by a challenging research agenda: Why has civic engagement in the U.S. declined? How are the forms of citizen participation changing and what causes these shifts? What is the nature and meaning of civil society in different parts of the world? Tufts is encouraging and supporting faculty research on these topics and is sponsoring a book series on Civil Society through the University Press of New England. A public Forum on Civil Society in April 1999 celebrated publication of the first two volumes in this series.

Contact person: Rob Hollister, Dean of the University College of Citizenship and Public Engagement
UCCPS web page: http://uccps.tufts.edu/

All students enrolled in the Leadership Studies Minor are required to take the Leadership Studies Seminar, a sophomore-level course that focuses on the development of personal leadership skills, analysis of leadership styles and strategies, and awareness of the civic and ethical responsibilities of leaders. Leadership Studies Seminar students complete a community service project which links the academic curriculum of the course to a need in the college or local community and allows students to observe and reflect upon the connection between leadership and service.

In the spring semester of 2000, eight Leadership Studies students and the course instructor formed a team representing Mount Ida College at a day-long “”servathon”" in the local Newton, Massachusetts community. “”Newton Serves”" brought together 1,000 community volunteers to work at project sites throughout the city, for the benefit of 40 local non-profit agencies and the city government. Projects included cleanups, painting, landscaping, carpentry, working with the elderly, and clerical tasks. The Mount Ida team attended initial planning meetings and opening ceremonies at City Hall, and spent a whole day cleaning out the old Newton Boys and Girls Club and landscaping the new Boys and Girls Club. The students had an extended meeting with the mayor of Newton, who stopped by to thank team members for their efforts.

Back in the classroom, students wrote an article for the school newspaper urging other students to experience the rewards of community service. They also wrote retrospective essays linking their personal values, goals and observations with what they had learned about leadership characteristics, philosophies and styles during the semester. Of particular interest to all was the interaction of Mount Ida team members with each other and with community members involved in the project. Students were encouraged to reflect upon their own leadership and team-building skills and identify successful and unsuccessful leadership strategies employed by organizers of the events. These discussions led to a broader examination of the relationship between citizenship and participation, on campus and off-campus. The students evaluated the project as successful on personal and academic levels, as they appreciated the opportunity to practice skills developed in the classroom. The students also made a commitment to continue to volunteer in the local community.

Mount Ida College Opportunities in Leadership web page

To these ends, the College encourages students to respect ideas and their free expression, and to rejoice in discovery and in critical thought; to pursue excellence in a spirit of productive cooperation; and to assume responsibility for the consequences of personal actions. Harvard seeks to identify and to remove restraints on students’ full participation, so that individuals may explore their capabilities and interests and may develop their full intellectual and human potential. Education at Harvard should liberate students to explore, to create, to challenge, and to lead. The support the College provides to students is a foundation upon which self-reliance and habits of lifelong learning are built: Harvard expects that the scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students will lead them in their later lives to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.

Website: http://www.college.harvard.edu/

Our strategic plan, The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003, adopted in 1997, centers the College on our mission to foster the alliance of excellent liberal arts education with purposeful engagement in the world. It spawned a number of faculty-led initiatives including our now thriving Weissman Center for Leadership. The overarching goal of the Weissman Center is to enhance students abilities to become effective agents of change. In its first few years the Center has drawn significant faculty and student interest, major donor support (including a 4-million-dollar naming gift), and considerable public attention. Over 150 faculty and hundreds of students have participated directly in advancing the Center s work. Center programming falls into three main areas:

I. Focus on Critical Public Issues:
Through a variety of educational activities, the WCL seeks to increase awareness of the critical problems of our times and to engage the entire community on and off campus in discussion about workable solutions and avenues for action. Each semester the WCL organizes a campus-wide focus on a specific public issue or problem. The theme is incorporated into the curriculum in myriad ways and public events include lectures by distinguished specialists, panel discussions, student debates. Recent themes include:

• Fall 1999: Silent Killer? Environmental Contaminants and Health
• Spring 2000: U.S. Foreign Interventions: Human Rights versus National Interests
• Fall 2000: American Democracy in Crisis?: Money, Politics, and Civic Participation
• Spring 2001: Legacies of Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under Franklin Roosevelt

II. Active Learning Strategies

The WCL promotes active learning strategies that enhance students ability to think independently and analytically, to participate in informed and vigorous discussion, to grapple with uncertainty and complexity, and to work in groups across difference. These include:

The Community-Based Learning Program (CBL): an educational initiative located in the Weissman Center that links Mount Holyoke students with local communities in nearby Springfield, Holyoke, South Hadley, and the surrounding Pioneer Valley in courses that combine analysis with action. Begun in 1993 as a pilot project funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, community-based learning now has over 30 courses in a wide variety of disciplines.

The Case Method: a learning strategy that provides students with a narrative account of an actual problem and compels them to develop dynamic approaches toward solving it under the close questioning of faculty and peers, and with the constraints of new information. Supported by a $100,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation, the WCL is working during 1999-2001 with twenty faculty members from different disciplines to use the case method in their courses.

III. The Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program (SAW):

A vibrant program that works with faculty and students to help students to think critically, speak articulately, and write effectively in order to develop students capacity to be active and effective agents of change. It includes the Writing Center and the innovative Speaking Center, which direct the efforts of scores of writing and speaking assistants and mentors. SAW conducts workshops for faculty and students, publishes Word of Mouth (newsletter for students), and coordinates other initiatives to foster a culture of conversation at Mount Holyoke.

Contact:Chris Benfey at cbenfey {at} mtholyoke(.)edu and Karen Remmler at kremmler {at} mtholyoke(.)edu, Co-Directors, Weissmann Center for Leadership

Upon his appointment as president of Olivet College in 1993, Dr. Michael Bassis perceived a lack of shared purpose among faculty, staff, and students. There was, he felt, no common identity that held the campus together, no common goals that drove the curriculum. President Bassis initiated a process that led to fundamental change. The process is best seen in four key steps: a question posed to faculty; the ensuing period of discussion and generation of ideas; action taken to turn those ideas into reality; and the extension of discussion to the campus as a whole.

The question that started it all, posed directly to faculty, was this: Given the range of opportunities open to them, why should students choose to enroll at Olivet? The president emphasized the history of Olivet, which was founded as the first college in the nation to accept students regardless of race or gender, and asked faculty to explore the institution s values and their own.

The very act of discussing and forming new ideas brought faculty together and energized the process of institutional change. The answer that faculty proposed centered on the idea of social responsibility. Faculty authored a vision statement and titled it, Education for Individual and Social Responsibility. The new vision statement defined five sets of learning outcomes related to communication skills, reasoning skills, individual responsibility, social responsibility, and skills specific to students field of study. Now it was time to turn that shared vision into reality. A year of intense deliberation among faculty resulted in the Olivet Plan, a new academic program for the college. The Olivet Plan describes how the college will deliver education that leads to the desired learning outcomes. The plan eliminates fifteen majors and minors, and adds two new ones. It revises general education requirements to emphasize diversity, and requires freshman and senior year experience courses, each with a service-learning component. It also requires all students to complete a portfolio of their work addressing each student learner outcome.

With a new sense of purpose among faculty, President Bassis extended the scope of campus discussion to the rest of campus. This time, a new question was posed to faculty, staff, students, administrators, and trustees: What does it mean to be a responsible member of this college community? The discussion that followed resulted in the Olivet College Compact, a statement defining the values that govern the social culture of Olivet. By 1999, when the first class to attend Olivet under the new curriculum graduates, they will not have seen the lack of purpose that Dr. Bassis perceived when he first came to Olivet. Instead, they will have experienced their undergraduate years at a college redefined by its own community and guided by a commitment to social responsibility.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

The Olivet College Plan is online at http://www.olivetcollege.edu/about/plan.htm

Service learning at Concordia University, St. Paul is incorporated into the curriculum in a variety of ways. As in many institutions, some professors and some courses lend themselves more effectively to such academic involvement in community issues. For example, students in the College of Education and Director of Christian Education (DCE) programs complete 100 service learning hours as part of their Human Relations course requirements.

Among the many service learning opportunities available, students may assist in the classrooms at neighboring Higher Ground Academy, tutor students at Central High School or work with teens in the Future Force program. Particularly helpful is nearby Skyline Towers, a low-income housing development at which more than a dozen different languages are spoken. Students have been involved in research about the challenges and strengths of new immigrant families. One recent student, as a result of her participation in this type of research, changed her vocational goal from being a family counselor to being an international family counselor. Other students have conducted research and interviews to gain a better understanding of the relationship of immigration, global economics and global politics. Through education courses students are better able to understand the changing challenges in education and the different learning styles of individuals. They also become aware of how community and family pressures have an impact on learning.

Concordia University faculty and staff lead by example, making it clear to students that involvement and commitment are the keys to civic responsibility. Concordia encourages its entire campus community of students, faculty and staff to connect with their campus and their community, thereby building a solid foundation on which to build a life of service to others.

In Campus Compact s recommended assessment of civic responsibility, the category of “”curriculum”" organizes one set of features through which institutions might judge themselves. Curricular changes inspired by SMSU s public affairs mission were guided by the Faculty Senate and include changes in both mandatory and optional offerings.

A number of components of the course “”Introduction to University Life”" promote public affairs: The First Year Student Convocation speech an address with a public affairs theme is processed through classroom discussions and written assignments. Large group presentations cover fundamental and contemporaneous value issues, diversity, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Students are encouraged to vote and guided in the registration process. This course is required of incoming students who have yet to complete general education.

Capstone courses offered under the title “”Public Affairs for the 21st Century”" offer an integrative and interdisciplinary experience which addresses public affairs issues and choices of broad importance from the perspectives and interaction of multiple fields. Titles in the first offerings include “”Corporate Responsibility: The Role of Business as a Corporate Citizen,”" “”Public Opinion, Propaganda, and the Mass Media,”" “”Exploring Community Well-Being Through Performance,”" and “”Sustaining the Earth: An Integrative Perspective.”" A capstone course is required of students once they have reached 60 semester hours.

“”Citizenship and Service Learning”" options append an additional hour of credit in selected courses in exchange for the learning achieved by completing and reflecting upon forty hours of service over a semester. Students in computer science have worked with elementary students and teachers in setting up their computer facilities. Students in mathematics have tutored challenged teens. And students in fashion design have developed dignified clothing for Alzheimer patients.

SMSU s “”Introduction to University Life”" course, its “”Public Affairs for the 21st Century”" courses and its “”Citizenship and Service Learning”" program were each recognized in Templeton s Colleges That Encourage Character Development.

The public affairs mission has also inspired the development of new courses (e.g., “”Chemistry for the Citizen”"), programs (e.g., the “”Environmental Sciences and Policy”" minor), and cocurricular entities. Students find public affairs readily available and well supported at SMSU.

Public affairs at SMSU is so integrated into the whole university enterprise that it shares the highest levels of planning and reporting with academics, administrative services, student affairs, university advancement and finance.

Contact person: Dr. Debra McDowell, Director, Citizenship and Service Learning
CASL web site: http://www.smsu.edu/casl/
SMSU Public Affairs home: http://publicaffairs.smsu.edu/

While SMSU’s core purpose is to develop educated persons, the university itself strives to be a good citizen. A collaborative community indicators project resourced primarily through SMSU will soon provide a report-card of community wellness. An active grants office helps connect academic disciplines, community needs and granting agencies. A new Institute for Ozarks Studies housed at the university will bring a comprehensive view from multiple perspectives of our physical and cultural settings. These initiatives help define and refine a sense of place for university citizens, local residents and visitors. At SMSU, public affairs is integrated wholly throughout the university. SMSU is proud to develop citizens of enhanced character and to graduate “”citizen biologists,”" “”citizen historians,”" citizen artists,”" and “”citizen teachers.”"

Contact person: Dr. Debra McDowell, Director, Citizenship and Service Learning
CASL web site: http://www.smsu.edu/casl/
SMSU Public Affairs home: http://publicaffairs.smsu.edu/

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Web resources:
Mission and History: http://www.rivier.edu/info/default.asp?id=80
Peace and Social Justice Institute: http://www.rivier.edu/programs_centers/cfpsj/default.asp?id=300