Working Paper No. 17
Bridging Two Worlds: Professional Service and Service Learning

Deborah Hirsch and Ernest Lynton

Abstract

Authors of this essay, also published in the NSEE Quarterly, argue that proponents of service-learning and faculty professional service should join forces to pursue a common  agenda of community outreach. At a time when colleges and universities are being urged to help solve society's problems, the faculty represents a virtually untapped resource. Certainly, there are presently - and  always have been - individual faculty working in the community as consultants or as supervisors and guides for students. If the campus is to make a significant impact, however, the institution must be able to deploy  departments, divisions, interdisciplinary centers and institutes to work on community problems. The current system of promotion and tenure stands as a real impediment to faculty involvement in community outreach. By  joining forces to create partnerships or "bridges," advocates for service-learning and faculty professional service can work to expand the current promotion and tenure system to provide incentives and  rewards for faculty work in this area.

Fall 1995

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