“Service-Learning” has had its practitioners and advocates within the larger community of higher education for generations. One teacher of art history calls it experiential understanding. The threefold task of the university has often been summarized as teaching, research, and service. The liberal arts character of church-related higher education has consistently placed an emphasis on service to society and has lifted up the virtue of loving God with the mind. The integration of service and learning is a natural, and the faith community’s role in its advance has been significant.
In the mid-20th century, with the GI Bill and a growing need for multiple educational opportunities, a new institution appeared on the horizon. It was the community college, and a new and potentially strong advocate for service-learning emerged as a willing partner in community service and education.
The 1950s and 1960s saw the merging of public post -secondary technical and industrial schools with private or public junior colleges. The result is a strong system of community colleges in virtually every state. These largely two- year institutions continue a vocational school tradition and at the same time offer an academic curriculum that provides an entry point for many young adults to continue their education with baccalaureate and graduate degrees.
Presbyterians have joined other denominations to design models for ministry to and with these rapidly expanding campuses. In the 1970s, together we created United Ministries in Higher Education, an ecumenical body that brought a united approach to newly accessible campuses and the communities served by these local, nonresidential campuses.
California, Texas, and the New England states were the early sites of significant movements by the faith community to be part of a non-traditional approach to non-traditional students. Community colleges found themselves serving a diverse and mobile segment of the population. High school graduates and older working adults were looking for needed skills by which to advance in the work force. Others sought a liberal education track. All seemed motivated to seek a furtherance of their education and employment, often simultaneously! All shared life in their communities and in a distinct learning community to which they brought diverse gifts, needs, and dreams.
What evolved is an educational method and philosophy that capitalizes on the unorthodox character of the community college and the freedom to innovate in a society and culture less bound by tradition. It is a philosophy of education that recognizes the value of voluntary community service and connects one’s life experience to learning.
One of the early expressions of this union of service and learning was in the six community colleges of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a venture nurtured by an ecumenical team of campus ministers — the Praxis Project. Praxis means learning by doing. Seeing the wisdom of working within the colleges, and not as outsiders looking in, the campus ministers sought support from faculty and administrators who shared a vision of education grounded in the community and in partnership with the service agencies common to any population center. The faith community leadership took responsibility for identifying agencies open to using student volunteers in significant ways and also by providing reflection as a key component to the learning experience.
This dimension of reflection has become the hallmark of effective service-learning. One Director of Service -Learning, Mark Helms, at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, says that the hyphen between service and learning represents the element of reflection by which participants in community service deliberate with each other on their experiences. Aided by experienced leaders, participants grow in their understanding of work and service, of community and culture, and issues in society, both local and global.
Ultimately, many campuses, which began with largely volunteer and co-opted leadership, now have full- or part-time staff, accountable to the college administration resourcing a Service-Learning Program. Another development since the 1980s has been the emergence of Campus Compact, an agency created and governed by a consortium of college and university presidents. These leaders have committed their institutions to active engagement with their communities and to creating an educational environment that promotes active citizenship and a global perspective.
It is noteworthy that of the nine Presbyterian-related colleges in North Carolina, six are active members of Campus Compact: Davidson College, Johnson C. Smith University, Lees-McRae College, Peace College, St. Andrews College, and Warren Wilson College. Each gives high priority to civic engagement, a term used increasingly to describe this aspect of the college or university’s educational task.
A significant number of institutions have joined in giving credibility to a declaration on the civic responsibility of higher education. A majority of the states now have Campus Compact organizations with professional leadership. State, national, and international conferences involve administrators, faculty, and students from both public and private sectors. Networking throughout each state and nationally provides opportunities for campuses to develop and share resources. A growing number of community colleges are joining the four-year colleges and universities in Campus Compact to further the civic mission of higher education.
Founded by the five North Carolina presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A..), North Carolina Presbyterian/Higher Education Ministries, Inc. has given priority to a Community College Initiative. By means of an ecumenical task group, an informal partnership has been established with North Carolina Campus Compact and the North Carolina Community College System.
Representing the faith community, we advocate for the 58 community colleges in North Carolina. At the same time, we seek to introduce congregations and local leadership to ways by which the faith community and the congregations in each campus community may be a resource and a visible partner in community service and in civic engagement.
George Gunn is vice moderator of North Carolina Presbyterian / Higher Education Ministries, Inc., representing five P.C.(U.S.A.) presbyteries: Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, New Hope, Salem, and Western North Carolina. He is also pastor of Fletcher Church in Newland, N.C.
