navigate: home: magazine: spring 2001: article

Service learning across the curriculum: A campus model By Celena E. Kusch
Students train with Pennsylvania CleanWays’ staff to survey dumpsites for improper dumping. Students produced township letters about this issue for their first-year writing course. Financial and other support for the project has been made possible through a grant provided by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Watershed Conservation (EPA Section 319 Program). Photos by Melanie Thomas—Penn State Fayette Two former Penn State Fayette students, Sabrina Formentelli (left) and Sandy Ryan (right) of Ameri*Corps VISTA, and Lynn Petko, coordinator of the Academic and Community Engagement Center and the Learning Enrichment Center at Penn State Fayette, support coordination and development of the campus’ service-learning programs.	In his inaugural State of the University Address, President Graham Spanier announced his goal for Penn State “to be the top institution in the United States in the integration of teaching, research and service,” adding, “our University-wide educational outreach activities are an integral part of our mission. The more closely they are integrated with our resident instruction and research, the more effective they will be.”   Embracing that commitment to increase the University’s engagement with the issues facing our communities, many faculty have sought to foster a similar outreach focus in their students through service learning. Service learning involves academic-based community projects that are relevant to course content and make a direct and lasting impact on both the local area and the students.   In fall 1999, Penn State Fayette established the Academic and Community Engagement (ACE) Center to coordinate and promote   service-learning initiatives. During that semester, more than 150 students from nursing, business, general education courses and first-year seminars participated in service-learning activities. Today, faculty in 13 disciplines, from art and architectural engineering to natural sciences and sociology, have adopted the service-learning model as a means to promote community engagement among undergraduate students.   According to Lynn Petko, coordinator of the Academic and Community Engagement Center and the Learning Enrichment Center at Penn State Fayette, faculty members have been enthusiastic about the service-learning program.   “Many faculty are already involved with the community, but they have not yet brought their students into it,” Petko stated. “Service learning allows them to make that connection. Our faculty are always looking for ways to make their classes new and to get more involved with their students; they are very receptive to the service-learning idea.”   Currently, the program involves nearly one-third of the campus’ full-time faculty and about 300 students each semester. The students work with 10 area schools and more than 40 community-based organizations, including Children and Youth Services, the Crime Victim’s Center, Community Action, the American Heart Association and City Mission.   Petko commented on the positive outcomes these programs produce for both the students and the community.   “I have lived in this area my whole life, and I see so many good community programs that could do more with just a little support from people with additional academic know-how,” she said. “When we can provide that to one of these groups, it is so pleasing and even overwhelming to see how much the community organizations appreciate the work our students do.”   As for the students, Petko added, service learning promotes growth, empowerment and community involvement. She explained that many students are “surprised at what their community is like.”   “Most have lived here all their lives and didn’t get involved. They are shocked to know that homeless shelters can house people with college degrees, for instance. When they start to work on service-learning projects, you can see them grow and watch them take off. Many who were unsure of their majors now know exactly what they want to do with their lives. They take on the responsibility and do remarkably well,” she said.   To illustrate, Petko pointed to the example of Gina Jones, the 2000–01 Service-learning Scholarship recipient. Jones participates in as many as 10 service-learning projects across the curriculum each semester.   Given the wide range of service-learning opportunities, the ACE Center serves an important administrative function for campus faculty.   “Because we have service learning in so many different areas — first-year seminars, service-learning programs that run the gamut of the campus — the center provides a place people can recognize as the contact point and place to find resources. Whenever someone has a question about a service-learning project or idea, everyone knows to direct questions to me,” Petko explained.   She is responsible for making the connections between potential projects and campus faculty. In developing a project, she meets with community organizations to learn about their work and their needs and then arranges a match with one or more courses and professors’ areas of expertise. Often she creates an interdisciplinary network of resources connecting student experiences with community needs.   In one program launched this spring, for example, nine students from three different disciplines began work with area health service providers to study nonutilization of health services throughout the county. The project is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Campus Compact and involves Dr. Richard Cupelli, instructor of business logistics; Charlotte Stotelmyer, instructor of nursing; and John Rapano, instructor of human development and family studies. Students are working with the Wesley Health Center of Connellsville and the Daughters of Charity to study how health services are used and to determine equipment needs and develop informational materials for a new mobile health unit.   The nursing program, under the supervision of instructor Melissa Miner, has provided cardiovascular health information to thousands of area school children. Another program initiated a waterway clean up and fishery project with a Growing Greener grant. Based on such results, the campus sees tremendous potential to expand this work, particularly in area high schools.   “In the last year, we have doubled our community-based organizations and agencies, and I would like to continue that momentum. Many years from now, I would like to see ACE centers in places outside the campus, blanketing more of Fayette County, expanding into Greene County and linking with other community sites to help people,” Petko added. “Perhaps this will be possible by pursuing partnerships with Penn State McKeesport and Penn State Cooperative Extension offices in those counties.”   Already, two Ameri*Corps VISTA members are assisting with planning and coordination of new service-learning initiatives.   With funding from a three-year grant by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation of Pittsburgh, the ACE Center plans to establish a firm administrative structure and to increase funding for faculty and students involved in service learning. A possible Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education grant, which has been submitted but not yet approved, will further enable the center to create a team of students who can act as liaisons for the service-learning experience. Petko will also use the grant to design and implement a more comprehensive assessment of the program as it operates for at-risk students through the Learning Enrichment Center.