CSU Channel Islands was recently selected as one of 115 institutions nationwide chosen by the Carnegie Foundation to receive its 2010 Community Engagement Classification, university officials reported this week in a media release.
This is an elective classification which recognizes exemplary practices among all populations in a university-wide commitment to community engagement and service learning. Service learning is a teaching and learning method linking course content to “real-life” experiences that center around a community need or issue.
“Through community engagement students begin to understand civic responsibility, which contributes to their learning,” Pilar Pacheco, associate director of the Center for Community Engagement, stated in the release. “They develop leadership skills and a clearer vision of their social responsibility. The relationships they make in this program help them feel more a part of the community and give them a sense that there is application for their studies and that their participation has an impact.”
Pacheco stressed that this was a university-wide distinction because these concepts permeate every facet of life at the university.
The Carnegie Foundation requested broad information, which required a thorough and comprehensive examination of the University’s programs and relationships. The Community Engagement Classification recognizes that the university lives up to its mission and commitment to serve the region. This classification will not be awarded again for another five years.
The university featured a number of efforts to engage young people in STEM careers and majors (science, technology, engineering and math). An example is the Summer Science Institute, which is designed to encourage Oxnard College students to pursue STEM majors and to transfer to a four-year university. This past summer 60 students enrolled in 3 week classes, working with faculty research mentors, to study either the health of the ocean from a tall ship or investigate “crime scenes” set up on the CSUCI campus. University students served as peer mentors.
“At Channel Islands, we share a strong commitment to give back to the community in which we live,” Richard R. Rush, university president, stated in the release. “Alexis de Tocqueville, in his 1830 account of Democracy in America, called the acts of service he observed “habits of the heart.” Integrating service into student learning, faculty research, and staff activities not only provides better prepared students, but also strengthens the entire community. I am proud of our campus efforts and our ‘habits of the heart’.”
Since its inception, CI has been building the infrastructure for community engagement and service learning on campus. This effort has been supported by funding, by curriculum and faculty development, by student interest and opportunity, and community partnerships.
The ultimate test of service learning and community engagement is the impact it has on both the university and the wider community.