Name:	Jason Phillips
Title:	Assessment Officer
Department:	Command Assessment
Organization:	Navy Operational Support Center, Earle, NJ, NJ/US Navy
Phone:	(732) 807-4182
Email:	jasontphillips1 [a] aol.com
Address:	118 Spinnaker Way Neptune, NJ 07753

Brief Biography:
My passion and area of expertise is in the field of educational partnerships. During the course of my doctoral studies, I was inspired by the work and research being conducted throughout the country in service-learning. I began to recognize that, although tremendous work was being done, service-learning holds a great deal more potential. I soon began to see that reciprocal partnerships are the mainstay of community engagement in service-learning. My doctoral dissertation research first explored successful campus/community service-learning partnerships. I then developed an assessment tool to measure the degree to which involvement in campus/community service-learning partnerships transform pedagogy and services of participating partners. The research and resulting assessment instrument were both rewarding and successful. During my research, I came to believe that in order for educational partnerships to be truly transformative they must not only improve education but also, in some way, improve the quality of life of participating community members and their communities. I defended my dissertation in January of 2007 and was soon able to put my ideas and passion into practice. I left the United States to serve as the senior academic advisor of a newly developed strategic leadership college in Kabul, Afghanistan. During my year in Afghanistan all of my expertise in education and educational partnerships was put to challenging tests. I worked on educational initiatives which involved elders of small Afghan villages and also worked with embassies and ambassadors to promote educational partnerships which quite literally spanned the globe. I strongly believe that service-learning and educational partnerships can positively impact the world in which we live and improve the quality of life for communities within the United States, villages in countries struggling to break a long cycle of poverty and/or violence such as Afghanistan, and our shared global community.

Areas of Expertise