National experts on student service-learning at UNL Sept. 21-23

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will serve as host to the 2006 Midwest Consortium for Service-Learning in Higher Education's Annual Conference Sept. 21-23. Featured speakers include Barbara Holland and Barbara Jacoby, both nationally known leaders in service-learning in higher education.

Both Holland and Jacoby will offer pre-conference workshops in the scholarship of engagement and campus-community partnerships. Jacoby will also deliver the keynote address, "Service-learning: What, So What, Now What" on Sept. 21. Concurrent sessions on service-learning research and practice presented by faculty from institutions across the Midwest fills the remainder of the conference schedule. An Undergraduate Leadership Conference will be held for students on Sept. 22.

The conference is open for the UNL community, although registration is required. For more information, call 472-2454 or go to http://si.unl.edu/mcconf/. Service-learning is a teaching method where students work with established service agencies on identified community needs and then reflect on the experience in light of their academic coursework. Research from across the nation has found that colleges and universities who employ service-learning in their classes see a variety of benefits, including increased academic and civic engagement among students. Current studies have found service-learning to be an effective tool for teaching a broad range of subjects, making it a popular choice in both university and high school settings.

Barbara Jacoby is senior scholar for the Stamp Student Union and Campus Programs and the Chair of the Coalition for Civic Engagement and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a scholar for the National Clearinghouse for Commuter Programs. She was director of the National Clearinghouse for Commuter Programs from 1983 to 2003. She served as director of the Office of Community Service-Learning from 2003 to 2005, director of Commuter Affairs and Community Service from 1992 to 2003, and director of the Office of Commuter Affairs from 1983 to 2003, all at the University of Maryland. She is the author of four books on students and service-learning, including her new book "Establishing and Sustaining the Community Service-Learning Professional" (working title), to be published by Campus Compact in 2007.

Holland is director of the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, a project funded by the Learn and Serve America of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She holds positions as senior scholar in the Center for Service and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, adjunct professor at the University of Western Sydney (Australia), and as executive editor of Metropolitan Universities Journal.

Prior to joining the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, she was the visiting director of the Office of University Partnerships in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C. While at HUD (2000-2002), she managed a portfolio of $40 million in competitive federal grant programs encouraging higher education's involvement in community development through sustainable partnerships, and she conducted research on partnership characteristics and institutional commitment to engagement.

The Midwest Consortium for Service-Learning in Higher Education promotes and assists colleges and universities in developing service-learning projects on member campuses through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. Twenty-four colleges and universities from Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa participate in the consortium, which is administered through Student Involvement at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. UNL hosted the first conference for the Consortium in 2003.

Contact: Linda Moody, Student Involvement Service-Learning, (402) 472-8158