Resources and Innovations
Despite the challenges mentioned above, the CSU has been successful
in achieving steps that seemed insurmountable. This section will
highlight some of the creative ways and resources campuses have
used to achieve steps and goals.
RESOURCES
Campus Compact
Campus Compact is a membership organization of college and university
presidents who are committed to supporting and promoting service
learning and service.
California Campus Compact (CACC), directed by Mr. Elson Nash, has
provided invaluable assistance and resource to the CSU campuses.
CACC has provide grant opportunities, technical assistance, capacity
building techniques, institutes and workshops for faculty and administrators,
VISTA positions, and general information on service and service
learning initiatives at the local, state, and national levels. Most
recently, CACC played a critical role in lobbying the state legislature
for passage of service learning legislation. Despite the Governor’s
veto, the mobilization of service learning practitioners in the
state and the education of legislators on service learning pedagogy
created a critical foundation for the passage of future legislation
to support CSU campus efforts.
Membership
For the 1998-98 academic year, all 21 CSU campuses included in
this report have made verbal commitments to become members of California
Campus Compact.
Leadership within the Campus Compact
The California Campus Compact is housed at San Francisco State,
and chaired by SFSU President Dr. Robert Corrigan. Dr. Blenda Wilson,
President of CSU Northridge, serves as a member of the National
Campus Compact Board of Directors. Leadership within Campus Compact
strengthens the CSU role in national conversations about service-learning.
Western Region Campus Compact Consortium Grantees (for institutionalizing
service learning)
In 1997-1998, 12 campuses were awarded WRCCC grantees to support
the process of institutionalization. On several campuses, this grant
served as the impetus for additional support for service-learning
from the institution. For example, at Northridge, the Provost’s
office matched the WRCCC grant in order to provide enough release-time
for a faculty member to effectively manage a newly created Center
for Community Service Learning. The following campuses have received
the WRCCC grant and were recently awarded the grant for a second
year: Bakersfield, Fresno, Fullerton, Humboldt, Long Beach, Monterey
Bay, Northridge, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo,
and San Marcos.
WRCCC Continuums of Service conference:
The 1st WRCCC Continuums of Service Conference at Portland
State University was well attended by CSU representatives. Over
35 CSU faculty, administrators and students participated in workshops
and dialogues, and facilitated several of the workshops, highlighting
the significant work that had been done on CSU campuses.
The 2nd annual WRCCC Continuums of Service conference
will take place on the CSU Fullerton campus from March 3-5, 1999.
The conference, which is expected to attract a national audience,
is faculty-focused and discipline-based, while also providing valuable
opportunities for community service and service-learning directors
to discuss the critical elements of service-learning. This will
provide an excellent opportunity to showcase the CSU and its leadership
in service-learning initiatives.
Learn and Serve: Higher Education Grants from the Corporation
for National Service
Currently for the 1998-99 academic year, there are 4 campuses that
have Learn and Serve grants:
- Northridge, directed by Dr. Warren Furumoto
- Sonoma, directed by Dr. Tony Apolloni
- San Francisco, directed by Dr. Rosemary Hurtado
- Monterey Bay, directed by Ms. Marian Penn
Although the CSU has four programs that receive support from Learn
and Serve grants, this is an area that the CSU has highly under-utilized.
Marilyn Smith, Executive Director of Learn and Serve Higher Education,
has strongly encouraged all of higher education to more actively
lobby for, and seek out, funds from the Corporation for National
Service. This is an endeavor the CSU must pursue.
CSU Community Service Learning Listserv
Currently over 100 service learning faculty and staff have joined
the CSU community service learning listserv (communityserve@calstate.edu).
This discussion group is devoted to sharing information, ideas,
challenges, and resources about service-learning within the CSU
system.
America Reads
San Francisco State President, Dr. Robert Corrigan, is the Chair
of the America Reads Steering Committee. All 21 campuses included
in this report have America Reads programs on their campuses. As
was illustrated in Goal Three, America Reads has helped the campuses
develop, and continue, ties with elementary schools and community
agencies that focus on literacy initiatives. Additionally, the program
has helped campuses recruit students into service and tutoring opportunities,
which can provide a foundation for future interest in service-learning
experiences.
Service Learning 2000:
Service Learning 2000, housed at Stanford University, has provided
opportunities for CSU faculty and administrators to participate
in institutes, workshops, and conversations that focus on the integration
of service-learning pedagogy with teacher preparation programs.
Several CSU campuses, Chico, Humboldt, San Bernardino, and San Marcos,
have been actively involved in Service Learning 2000. Additional
opportunities to support service-learning in teacher preparation
should be explored.
INNOVATIONS
Below you will find a sampling of the innovations some campuses
have developed in order to address the challenges they have faced.
Collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning/Faculty
Development Center
Effective collaborations between community service-learning offices
and centers for teaching and learning have provided a strong foundation
for service-learning initiatives on many campuses. The Centers for
Teaching and Learning can enhance the credibility and rigor of service
learning initiatives. Service-learning may not be seen as an "add-on"
if it is connected to the faculty development center. Service-learning
is truly seen as a pedagogy that can enhance a faculty member’s
teaching and a student’s learning and experience. Campuses
that have well-developed collaborations with faculty development
centers include Bakersfield, Chico, Fresno, Long Beach, Los Angeles,
San Jose and Stanislaus.
Position of Service-Learning Mentor:
Fresno created a position of Service-Learning Mentor for faculty,
supported with funds from the Western Region Campus Compact Consortium
grant. This faculty mentor serves as a resource to other faculty
and can speak to the pedagogical and reward issues on a peer-to-peer
basis.
San Diego State also created a similar position for the newly created
Center for Community-Based Learning. The service-learning faculty
mentor position is held by the former coordinator of service-learning
at San Marcos. The two campuses collaborated to share service-learning
resources, and arrange for a leave of absence for a faculty member
of one campus to assist another campus with their service-learning
initiatives.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a faculty service-learning mentor
position, as well as student mentor positions.
"S" designation for service learning courses
Fresno’s Undergraduate Curriculum Committee approved an "S"
designation for all courses, which meet specific service-learning
criteria. This process increased awareness of service-learning pedagogy
university-wide, and acknowledged the existence and importance of
this type of course. Finally, the designation will allow students
to more thoughtfully plan their academic schedule, coordinating
time commitments in a realistic manner.
University policy stating criteria for service learning or community-based
learning status:
To address the confusion about the definition of a service-learning
experience, and to raise awareness about service-learning in general,
several campuses, including Fullerton and Fresno, have developed
policies defining the criteria for a service-learning experience.
VISTA positions:
Through the assistance of CA Campus Compact, many campuses have
received VISTA positions on their campuses to help in the coordination
of community service and service-learning efforts. VISTAs are involved
in the coordination of America Reads, as well as serving as community
liaisons. At Northridge, there is one VISTA community liaison for
every two college deans. Their positions will enhance the communication
and efficiency with which the campus will partner with the community.
At San Francisco State, there are nine VISTAs who have been assigned
to various community programs. Under faculty supervisors, they perform
program development projects then return to campus to work on community
service-learning placements for students.
Instructionally-Related Activity Fees:
Instructionally-Related Activity Fees provide financial support
to academically-related programs such as theatre, choir, and major-related
competitions. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has received support from
this fee, this year and will seek additional funds next year. Stanislaus
is also looking into this source of funding.
These are only a sampling of the creative strategies campuses have
developed to continue progress to institutionalize service-learning. |
