Of the three mainstays of scholarship teaching, research, and service service chronically ranks a distant third among faculty priorities. Many faculty consider themselves teachers first, sharing knowledge and understanding in their field with students; others focus primarily on their role as researchers, creating new knowledge in their field. Few, however, see their main role as that of serving others. Even when there is an emphasis on service, it is typically as service to the university or the discipline, not service to the community or society.
There are several factors that influence whether faculty will view service as a central element in their scholarship. Three key components community relationships, institutional support, and scholarly integrity are illustrated in the example of Regis College. At that school, a service enclave a small group of faculty that has adopted the role of public servant as a primary responsibility illustrates what scholarship can look like when faculty recognize the importance of professional service.
Regis College is a small, liberal arts college in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. Not far from Regis, Boston-based parochial schools have recently begun efforts to extend enrollment through scholarships to low-income children, many of whom are from recent immigrant families. In the spring of 1997, principals of three grammar schools and one high school expressed the need for health services for their students, many of whom were underserved. While basic services would be available at public schools, the parochial schools had no way of providing them.
When this need came to her attention, Regis s nursing department chair Amy Anderson visited the school and was, she recalls, appalled at the unmet health needs of children. Working closely with the schools and the local department of public health, the nursing department set up clinics at each school. The close relationships and communication that the college established with the schools and other health services helped the effort come off without a hitch. In the fall of 1997, the clinics went into operation, each staffed by a nursing faculty member and students.
With full funding from Regis College, the four clinics have been able to provide immunizations and conduct physical examinations. Student health problems are discussed with parents and students receive important vaccinations with parental approval. Classes in prevention and health promotion are offered for parents and children. In the course of the school year, the clinics have treated 859 children, most of whom would have received no health care otherwise. With additional funding from the college to purchase new equipment in the fall, the faculty and students will be able to perform hearing tests on all children.
The institution doesn t provide only financial support for this effort. The service that faculty are providing is given the same emphasis as would teaching or research. In terms of faculty workload, serving at the clinic once a week is counted as the equivalent of teaching one course on campus.
The growing relationship between the college and the school clinics helps improve the health of children in the community while fulfilling the service mission of faculty at the college. Through the clinics, nursing faculty have been able to engage their discipline in meeting a defined need in the community. Although the connection between the discipline and community need may be clear in a service profession such as nursing, it can be made with some effort in any field, from engineering where faculty can use engineering skills to help communities design solutions to problems to philosophy where faculty can lead community members in thoughtful discussion and decision-making related to community issues.
The relationship that faculty have developed with the community, the level of support they have received from their institution, and the extent of the tie between their discipline and service they provide make this an exemplary case of professional service in academic scholarship.
From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy
Regis College Department of Nursing: nursing {at} regiscollege(.)edu
