U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

March, 2002 

Service-learning groups discuss coordinating efforts

Service-learning and the University’s role in the Pittsburgh community provided the theme for the March 21, 2001, Spring Senate Plenary, The University in Civic Engagement: Service in Our University’s Mission. In his introductory remarks, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg reminded the audience that “The City Is Our Campus.” Service-learning opportunities, he asserted, help the University realize this important mission. The Chancellor went on to reaffirm the “mutual benefits” of community-university partnerships, maintaining that service-learning “provides avenues for building stronger university programs while at the same time building strong communities.”

Academic service-learning has been receiving increasing attention as a way to promote student engagement by linking the learning students do in the classroom to real-world problems and needs. Integrated components of academic service-learning include relevant and meaningful service with the community, enhanced academic learning, and purposeful civic learning. Reflection, when students consider their experience in terms of course objectives, also is considered critical for academic service-learning. A sampling of University of Pittsburgh courses that integrate components of academic service-learning is highlighted inside this issue of the Teaching Times.

In addition to specific courses, service-learning is being implemented in diverse ways at the University, and an initiative is under way to coordinate these efforts. Jack Daniel, vice provost for academic affairs and interim vice provost and dean of students, has convened a committee to draft a proposal that would coordinate the endeavors of groups that offer service-learning resources. This initiative is in response to an April 2001 report on service-learning to the Provost from the Enrollment Management Steering Committee. Representatives from the following offices are working with several faculty to draft the proposal: Community Outreach Partnerships Center (COPC), Student Volunteer Outreach, Global Service Center, Student Affairs, Community and Governmental Relations, and the Chancellor’s Office.

Four centers support University service-learning endeavors. Their areas of expertise are described as follows:

Pitt’s Community Outreach Partnerships Center is a federally funded outreach program that helps the University in partnership with community organizations to extend its sources to surrounding neighborhoods. Numerous offices, organizations, departments and schools on campus work collaboratively with more than a dozen community partners in outreach efforts and applied research in neighborhoods adjacent to the Oakland campus. The goal of the program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is to help higher education institutions develop and sustain effective partnerships for rebuilding communities.

Student Volunteer Outreach (SVO) administrator Terry Milani supervises SVO programs that include volunteer placements, service projects and partnerships. SVO is an umbrella of programs and services at the University and includes the Global Service Center and the Service-Learning Alliance. Malani said, “Service-learning is an excellent educational tool that uses civic engagement as a vehicle to meet curricular objectives while enhancing the personal development of students. All programs of SVO are designed to contribute to the educational and personal development of students.”

The Global Service Center, established in 1999 to foster international service-learning courses, partners with faculty to create service-learning experiences. Under its program administrator, Michael Sandy, GSC has been growing, and up to eight international programs involving up to 100 students, are planned for the coming year.

Cynthia Wetmiller is assistant director of the Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance (PSLA), headquartered at the University. The PSLA, which provides training and technical assistance for K-12 public school teachers, is eager to work with higher education faculty who wish to connect with public schools for a service-learning component.

The second annual Celebration of Service, sponsored by the Senate Community Relations Committee, will be held March 18 from noon to 3 p.m. in the William Pitt Union. The event highlights a sampling of projects and opportunities from across the University that reflect service-learning, community outreach, applied research, and service scholarship. Work from academic and professional schools, centers and programs, along with student and staff service activities, will be highlighted. The event developed out of last spring’s Senate Plenary.

Faculty interested in learning more about service-learning or implementing service-learning components to their courses can get information through a series of workshops offered by the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education in cooperation with the Global Service Center. See the information on this page for details about these workshops.

Photo: Pitt student Lisa Steinbrueck carries building materials with local children in Peru as part of hte LINCS program.

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