Summer 2000 Newsletter

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Content
Show Me The Money
Broadcast Your Success
The East Tennessee Consortium for Service-Learning
Learning From Each Other

Here are some of the suggestions:

I can't even begin to stress the need for publicizing outcomes and good works!
Here at Glendale Community College we have a newsletter each semester with different articles about projects and happenings. I usually try and get student, community, and faculty to write something original (and brief) about what they've done, how it felt, what they learned, etc.

We distribute the newsletter to ALL faculty on campus, all partner agencies, all community college Presidents in CA and others in our city and across the country. I've had many positive comments on the newsletter and find that many people take the time to read it because the articles are brief yet full of information.

Hoover Zariani, Glendale Community College, CA

As part of our CNS grant, sub-grantees each convened regional mini-conferences to get the word out about service-learning successes. These were typically half-day events with refreshments and included presentations by service-learning students and older adult recipients or service partners. Local media, school administrators, community partners, program participants, and faculty and administrators from neighboring higher education institutions were invited to attend. In addition to serving as a celebration of service-learning, these events often included "how-to" sessions for other faculty and administrators. The presidents of the participating institutions were always invited and in some cases gave the opening address. Several schools were successful in getting local TV and newspaper coverage as well. 

Jim McCrea
Project Coordinator
Generations Together
University of Pittsburgh

I am writing to share my part of the publicity of our service-learning programs at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee. We have several college wide publications, one of those considered to be "A channel of communication for...faculty and staff", and published approximately five times per academic year. As one part of my service-learning activity, I had the honor of writing articles for that publication during this past year, highlighting at least one project or giving general information on service-learning in each issue. This was the first year that this type of column was included. To help the college with feedback on this topic, in the last article of the year I included a short survey on whether this series had been helpful and inspiring to the readers. The last issue has just been published, so I do not have results back on the survey, but I hope that there has been some increased interest in service-learning based on this format of disseminating information. I also hope to continue the column next year because there are so many activities around campus that I believe are worth celebrating.

Kathleen Savage Cornett, MS, PT
Director, PTA Program
Walters State Community College

My chief means of publicizing the successes of our service learning students and their projects is through the weekly listing I put out of community service opportunities that are available. Thus, service learning and community service can get confused, but expediency wins out. So, in the weekly listing I mention who did what. I also try to get an article into the campus newspaper which comes three times a semester, with photos.

At the end of each semester, I compose a nice looking report of service learning happenings for the faculty senate. Next semester I will start presenting service learning awards for both faculty and students.

Tom Spring
Chaminade University, HI

Although the service partnerships are as varied as the institutions themselves, there are six overarching service initiatives shared by the schools: tutoring and literacy, environmental work in state and national parks, faculty development of service-learning methods, partnerships with neighborhood centers, leadership development of students in K-12 and higher education through service, and goals to help establish Schools and Communities of Promise in East Tennessee. 

Each institution in the partnership brings unique talents and programs to share. Share is the key word. As a Consortium, all members are expected to attend quarterly meetings, a conference, and send students to an annual leadership in service forum. Meetings are hosted at various institutions in the Consortium allowing the host institution to show case their students and faculty engaged in service-learning. At a spring dinner gathering the faculty service-learning leaders from each institution are asked to share syllabi and present the service and learning outcomes for their classes. It is a very inspirational and motivational celebration of the partnerships between students, faculty, and community.

Each campus in the Consortium has an official liaison that coordinates and monitors the implementation of the programs. On some campuses this leadership comes from the administration such as the Student Life area, on others - the chaplain's office, and on others - faculty from various departments. To be successful, all have learned to be campus and community leaders and "to work outside the box." It's through the work and dedication of these individuals that the partnerships among campuses, students, faculty, and communities have been built. All of these individuals have committed to the mission and goals of this endeavor in addition to the regular duties of their job. The power of service is evident in the positive relationships in the Consortium and the interest now generated in service-learning across the state.

The East Tennessee Consortium for Service-Learning is the proud recipient of the 1614th Point of Light presented by Mr. Robert Goodwin, CEO of the Points of Light Foundation, during National Volunteer Week in April. The past three years have been an exciting transformation for eight institutions of higher education in their journey to become engaged campuses. As Wade McCamey, Assistant to the President at Walters State said, "Our campus has changed so - all because of service-learning. We are thrilled with these new initiatives." 

The East Tennessee Consortium for Service Learning consists of the following institutions:

• Chattanooga State Technical and Community College anchors the southern end of the Consortium. This two-year school successfully hosted an annual week-long summer camp for at-risk children, is designing a certificate program in service-learning, developed quality service leadership programs, and built a strong corps of student leaders.
  
• Maryville College offers service-learning courses across their curriculum. One of their major strengths is the student-lead family literacy program. Maryville offers a January-term course that includes ongoing service to nearby state and local parks. Students also travel west to serve in the national park system.
  
• University of Tennessee at Knoxville utilizes service-learning methods in two graduate programs (law and city planning), the honors program, and in neighborhood centers. The program is linked through their Center for Community Partnerships. They have excellent resource materials on community partnerships. 
  
• Walters State Community College implemented the faculty service-learning leader program with outstanding results. This community college has incorporated service-learning into almost every academic department with over 30 faculty members participating over three years. 
  
• Tusculum College hosts an exciting civic arts program that is required of most all its students. Tusculum also leads a community literacy program - W.O.W, the Wonder of Words and Books for Babies. Faculty developed service immersion courses partnering with neighborhood centers in Washington, DC and Indian Reservations in New Mexico.
  
• East Tennessee State University sponsors the staff who lead the work of the Consortium. ETSU's own service program includes a strong America Reads initiative, a partnership in the local America's Promise Board, Youth Leadership programs in three counties, service partnerships involving all academic disciplines with four rural counties, a collaboration with Tennessee Volunteer Centers to launch the new Tennessee K-12 service-learning curriculum, service-learning in the national parks, service-learning training programs and a manual for community partners. 
  
• Milligan College is the first College of Promise in Tennessee. Students at Milligan have also initiated a long-term service commitment with the residents of Cranks Creek, Kentucky. Students at Milligan begin their freshman year with a "leadership in service" weekend. Faculty in education and sociology have service-learning incorporated into the curriculum.
  
• King College anchors the northern end of the Consortium and initiated an oral history project that documents the stories of the residents of their community. King hosts a most successful middle school mentoring program - Friends for Life. This model program has provided 25-30 college student mentors to at-risk middle school students. *
  

One of the goals of the program was to provide an opportunity for colleges and universities in Southern California to meet and network with members of local faith-based community organizations in order to explore ways the two groups can work together to provide students with effective opportunities for service learning. Another goal of the program was to explore new avenues of collaboration across disciplines, colleges and communities. Faith-based organizations have consistently offered a rich variety of placements at nonprofit and charitable organizations that provide diverse educational, social and human services.

The program began with an introduction to community-service learning by Dr. Maureen Rubin, Director, Center for Community-Service Learning at California State University Northridge and Erika Freihage Randall, Coordinator of Community Service Learning, California State University, Office of the Chancellor. Dr. Rubin and Ms. Randall spoke about the differences between community service and service-learning and how and why faith-based organizations provided effective service-learning opportunities for students. 

The program featured two panels: Successful Collaboration with Faith-based Community Organizations and the Faith-Based Community Organization Perspective. Faculty from Azusa-Pacific University, California State University Northridge and Pepperdine University described how they successfully integrated service-learning opportunities provided by faith-based organizations into different types of courses and the positive benefits these courses had on students. Following the faculty panel, several representatives from community and faith-based organizations spoke about the willingness on their part to begin a dialogue with the higher education community in Southern California to explore ways of integrating service-learning into their organizations and their need to learn more about the types of service-learning programs offered at higher education institutions in their communities.

This Colloquium successfully brought together faculty who were not aware of the benefits of service-learning or the resources available from the higher education and faith-based community, and members of faith-based organizations who were not aware of the opportunities available to engage students in faith-based community-service programs. Hopefully, this program is the start to a future of successful community-service learning collaborations between higher education and faith-based communities. *

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(c) UCLA Service Learning Clearinghouse Project