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Service Learning & Civic Engagement

Faculty Professional Development & Training

The Service Learning Department offers different professional development and training opportunities for faculty throughout the academic year and during summer. The Faculty Champions of Service Learning meetings are designed to engage faculty across campus with service learning and aims to create a community of practice around service learning. The Faculty Summer Institute provides a focused time for faculty to get together to plan for teaching a service learning course and deepend their knowledge of best practices.  

Faculty Champions of Service Learning Meetings 

We hold Faculty Champions of Service Learning Meetings each semester to support faculty who are currently teaching service learning courses and those who are interested to learn more about teaching service learning courses. Each meeting lasts 1 hour and covers a topic related to service learning. Faculty who participate in three meetings will receive a letter from the Service Learning Department to include in their RTP file (for tenure track faculty) and their periodic evaluation file (for lecturer faculty). 

Spring 2024 Meeting Topics, Dates, and Times
Topic  Date  Time
Building & Cultivating Community Partnerships for Service Learning Courses  February 2  12:00 - 1:00pm
Getting Community Engaged Research out of Service Learning Courses  February 13 12:00 - 1:00pm
Assessing Students' Learning in Service Learning Courses  February 23  12:00 - 1:00pm
Social Justice, Inclusivity, and Diversity Focus in Service Learning Courses  February 29  12:00 - 1:00pm
Designing Classroom Activities & Assignments in Service Learning Courses  March 8  12:00 - 1:00pm
Ways to Talk about Service Learning in Your File  March 12 1:00 - 2:00pm
Incorporating Service Learning into Courses across Different Disciplines (STEM, Business, Arts, etc.)  March 28 12:00 - 1:00pm
Service Learning Students working with Children versus Adults  April 4 12:00 - 1:00pm
Incorporating Technology into Service Learning Courses  April 12 12:00 - 1:00pm
Piloting a Service Learning Course  April 23 12:00 - 1:00pm
Service Learning Required, Optional, For Extra Credit: How should I choose? How should I design my course?  April 30 12:00 - 1:00pm

Don't see the topic you are interested in covered? Let us know the topic you would like us to cover at the Faculty Champions of Service Learning meetings. 

Suggest a Topic for the Meetings

Service Learning Faculty Summer Institute 

Dates & Times for Summer 2024: 9:00AM - 3:00PM, June 3rd through 6th 

Applications are due: Monday, May 20, 2024 

Applications are open! Apply Now!  

Through a combination of presentations and hand-on activities, our 4-day Faculty Institute will help you transform your future courses and improve your existing service learning courses. We will brainstorm ideas, workshop syllabi, identify learning outcomes, assignments, and ways to get research out of your service learning courses. We will invite speakers, including community partners, to discuss best practices and tips for success.

The Summer Teaching Institute will focus on both the pedagogy and the practice of service learning and on reflection. This includes:

  • Creating learning objectives that link service to course outcomes
  • Identifying Community Partners that fit the needs of your course and engage students
  • Designing reflection activities tied with the learning objectives and the service
  • Examining rubrics to assess student learning
  • Gathering data that you can analyze and present findings at conferences and publish in academic journals 
Show All
  • Who should apply?
    • Faculty of all ranks from all colleges are encouraged to apply. Service learning can be added to any course in any discipline. We will assist faculty in developing ideas, identifying community partners, and building syllabus.
    • If you are already a service learning faculty, this is a time to reflect and improve your courses and brainstorm about possible expansions and addressing challenges.
  • What is the commitment?
    • Faculty should plan to attend the full time from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM for four consecutive days. 
  • What is the compensation?
    • Faculty who complete the Service Learning Summer Teaching Institute will be awarded $600 training stipend for attending and participating at all 4 days of the meetings and an additional $500 training stipend if they can teach their new Service Learning course in the following academic year and attend the guided follow-up in AY 2024-25.

    Only Unit 3 faculty members who will be on contract with an existing Unit 3 appointment during the entire time frame of the training or professional development opportunity are eligible to be considered for a stipend. Faculty may not request or accept professional development and/or training under this program unless they are on active pay status as a faculty bargaining unit employee. Summer stipends can only be offered to faculty who will be employed the preceding spring and subsequent fall semesters as Unit 3. 

    Faculty are limited to a maximum of $10,000 in stipends for faculty training and professional development per fiscal year. Faculty cannot accept an offer for a stipend that will cause them to exceed this $10,000 annual limit. 

    All faculty members accepting a stipend must fulfill all of the stated terms and expectations that constitute completion of the training or development activity to receive the stipend. 

  • How will faculty be selected?
    • Diverse representation across disciplines and colleges and faculty ranks.  
    • Faculty who never taught service learning course before will have priority.  
    • Space will be limited to 10 participants 
  • How to Apply?