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Presidential Statement on Civic Engagement -M. Peter McPherson, former President of Michigan State University
As a land-grant, research-intensive university, Michigan State is uniquely positioned to provide experiential, community-based learning opportunities for students. The goal is to enhance their commitment to academic, and personal and professional development, while building a sense of civic responsibility and respect for democratic government. Experiential learning opportunities are available in local communities, across the nation, and in an increasingly diverse set of international settings.
The Service Learning Center was established as the Office of Volunteer Programs in 1967. It was renamed the SLC in 1987 to reflect the integration of active learning through career and civic development. Michigan State University's approach to engagement cuts across all facets of the university. While students may choose from course-based, program-based, and research-based programs, all share an emphasis on providing students with opportunities to address community needs.
In the last academic year nearly 11,000 undergraduate students took part in service learning activities (nearly one-third of the undergraduate enrollment). At the local level, Young Spartans provided students hands-on experience in K-5 schools where they served in a variety of capacities. They were classroom assistants or facilitators, recreation leaders, tutors, foreign language instructors, speech coaches, writing consultants, student council advisors, science club facilitators, pen-pals, and mentors. America Reads/Counts placed 180 students from 44 majors, in 34 elementary schools. I've Got Heart connected MSU athletes with elementary students to assist them with projects that benefited patients in local hospitals. Juniors and seniors in MSU's James Madison College spent at least one semester in an agency, organization, business or government internship. There are also opportunities for undergraduates to be active participants in projects dealing with environmental issues.
Our Alternative Break program was designed to provide students with international service learning options for spring break. The program has been expanded in the past year to include new sites in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Honduras. In fact, one-third of last year's participants choose an international site. For example, our Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars engages faculty and students as co-learners, who are currently working with rural communities in Ireland on community and resource development.
Beyond the number of faculty or students engaged in service learning, we also asses its impact on student learning, faculty performance, and community needs. The goal of our comprehensive approach to civic engagement-service learning is to assure that all participants benefit. The faculty gain by expanding their work to include the "scholarship of engagement" and by enriching their teaching. Students grow by applying formal instruction to community settings. Communities benefit by partnering with faculty and students to develop and assess innovative models to solve community needs.
Linking student service learning to the teaching, research, and service reflects MSU's historical commitment, to excellence in both developing new knowledge and conveying that knowledge to its students and to the public, and to speed the diffusion of information to residents of the state, the nation, and the world. Guided by our mission statement and its approach to civic engagement, Michigan State University is primed to provide an elite undergraduate education; to offer its students with opportunities to serve Michigan and the World; and to demonstrate its diversity as an exemplary engaged university.