The 2008 CUAC Triennial will feature a day of sessions on international service-learning, including a keynote presentation by Peggy Pusch, board chair for the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership (IPSL) and a look at service-learning projects both at Chung Chi College and other CUAC member institutions. It is no coincidence, perhaps, that CUAC’s Triennial takes place in Asia, since service-learning is growing apace across the region, with universities in Hong Kong such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University taking a leading role.
Among the most interesting recent developments in service-learning in Asia:
• The United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, under the leadership of its new vice president for programs, Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann, has renewed its commitment to support service-learning within its member institutions, with a particular focus on faculty training. The United Board held an initial faculty training workshop in Hong Kong this past May and will hold a second workshop in May 2008 which will be coordinated with the CUAC Triennial. The United Board, CUAC and IPSL are also exploring options for a conference in 2009 that will take a retrospective look at the development of service-learning in Asia since 2001 and a prospective look at where service-learning needs to go in the continent’s universities during the next decade. For further information about the United Board’s service-learning work, contact Dr. Cernol-McCann at bcernol@unitedboard.org.
• Lingnan University in Hong Kong has established a formal Office of Service-Learning, with support from the university’s board of trustees and the government of Hong Kong. The office is providing international service-learning opportunities for Lingnan students both within Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China; it is also engaging in a service-learning research program that included a first-ever Asia-Pacific service-learning conference held in Hong Kong this past May. For further information about the Lingnan initiative, visit the Office of Service-Learning Web site at http://www.ln.edu.hk/osl/.
• The International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, through its Service Learning Center, is also developing the Service Learning in Asia Network (SLAN), a partnership of service-learning programs across Asia that includes a significant exchange program for students between universities in Japan, India (including Lady Doak College), Hong Kong (including Chung Chi College), Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines (including Trinity University of Asia) and several other nations. The ICU initiative is also extending to student service-learning exchanges with African institutions (most recently in Malawi). For further details about the ICU initiative, visit the Service Learning Center’s web site at http://subsite.icu.ac.jp/slc/e/index.html.
• The Amity Foundation, based in Nanjing, China, has begun a few service-learning efforts both in faculty training and materials development as a way to introduce the concept to universities on the Chinese mainland. The Foundation has recently translated into Chinese one IPSL publication, “Service-Learning in Higher Education Around the World” (by Howard Berry and Linda Chisholm). For further information on the work of the Amity Foundation, visit its web site at www.amityfoundation.org
• In addition, IPSL continues to offer semester-long international service-learning programs in three Asian locations: Quezon City/Manila, Philippines (with Trinity University of Asia); Chiang Mai, Thailand (with Payap University); and Kolkata, India (with Loreto College). For further information about IPSL programs, visit the organization’s web site at www.ipsl.org.
CSSP – Charitable Service Scholarship Program 2006
Established in the 1980’s by The Episcopal Church (USA) through its Venture in Mission initiative, CSSP supports students at TEC Episcopal colleges who are engaged in volunteer service in their campus communities. CUAC’s U.S. chapter members continue to receive yearly grants. Below are examples of what has been done since last year.
Kenyon University, Gambier, Ohio – The reward was given to a math and anthropology major (with a minor in philosophy). He is a copresident of Kenyon’s Habitat for Humanity club, a participant with the Circle K organization (a volunteer-based organization that provides information about volunteer opportunities and does fundraising for charities) and serves on Kenyon’s Judicial Board. The student has also participated in a model UN team and in a volunteer-based college “pre-orientation program” where students serve in the Knox county community as a way of acclimating to college life.
http://www.kenyon.edu/index.xml.
University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee – Sewanee’s application of monies supported their 2006-2007 All Saints Chapel Outreach Trips by way of scholarship support for two classes that went to Les Cayes and Cange, Haiti. Courses included were Advanced Documentary Projects in Photography (Art 363) and Human Health and the Environment (Biology 232).
http://www.sewanee.edu and http://www.sewanee.edu/sspn.
Submitted by Tracy R. Andrés, Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion
