Service learning combines community service with an academic course. Students spend at least 20 hours during the semester volunteering at a site of their choice in conjunction with a class. Manchester Homeless Services, Kids Café, English for New Americans, Child and Family Services, Hillsborough County Nursing Home, and the International Institute, are just a few of the more than 50 sites the Meelia Center works with. Students may tutor children and teens, serve food to those in need, raise funds, or advocate change in the community. The Meelia Center students staff are prepared to support you community engagement learning at Saint Anselm.

Students' service is then integrated into the classroom through readings, lectures, and discussions. Through service learning students apply theories to practical problems, addressing real community needs. The variety of student experiences then deepens classroom understanding.

This opportunity outside the classroom enhances students' academic, personal, and civic learning. Service learning experiences, especially those related to educational and professional goals, enhance resumes and graduate school applications, demonstrating practical experience in the field and an ethical concern for the community. But it goes beyond looking good on a resume; it's about helping others. It is about going out in the community and advocating change, while instilling hope in those who need it most. Students make connections and learn more about themselves and others, forming new bonds and friendships on and off campus. More than 500 students participated in service learning classes in the 2015-2016 year.

More than 10 academic departments as varied as computer science, sociology, education, nursing, and psychology include courses with service learning components. For example the fine arts department has incorporated service learning for graphic design and visual communication courses where students designed logos, print advertisements, and brochures for nonprofit organizations.

Please complete the online application on the MyAnselm portal, under the Students section, and Meelia Center Service-Learning and Volunteer Application on the left navigation to select the community site for your service learning.

Learn More

  • General Overview of Concepts

    Service learning brings the community into the learning and teaching process. Concrete learning goals provided by the faculty member, combined with the specific interests and abilities of the service-learner, help to define which community learning sites are appropriate. The academic, personal, and civic learning are enhanced through guided reflections throughout the experience.

    Core course concepts: Service-learning is focused learning. Students begin with a clearly defined set of academic concepts that help guide their community placements. They often find many other applications on their own. The diverse service experiences of the class help to deepen class understanding of these concepts, and may provide faculty with student learning examples that can be used in subsequent years to reinforce core course concepts.

    Significant service to the community: Service-learning is at its best when the service challenges both students and faculty, and is meaningful to the community. When students move "beyond their comfort zone" they will look for the course material and the faculty member to help them understand the issues facing the community, and their role in response to those needs. Experiences that provide for significant involvement maximize the flow of information from the community back into the classroom, and increase the likelihood of personal and civic development.

    Reflection ensures integration of knowledge: There are many ways to facilitate the planned and purposeful integration of classroom and community learning through reflection. Students engaged in significant service, especially when they are out of their comfort zone, will have many questions, and their understanding often takes on a new urgency. Processing the community experiences both supports the student and maximizes the learning. Service-learners may know that ideas from class apply to a given service situation, but they may be unclear how to utilize the concepts fully. As one student struggles to put their knowledge into practice, other students can serve as resources for understanding. When the faculty member clarifies the concept for one student, other students enjoy a fuller comprehension.

  • Mission and History

    It is the mission of Saint Anselm College to provide students with an educational experience that will encourage them to "lead lives that are both creative and generous." The college combines Catholic and liberal arts traditions to produce students who actively seek truth and "challenge resourcefully both personal and social problems." One educational strategy for accomplishing the college's mission is service learning, which invites students to apply their classroom knowledge to address real community needs.

    The History of Service Learning at Saint Anselm

    Service learning began at Saint Anselm in the fall of 1988 in a social work class entitled Social Welfare (now Poverty and Public Policy.) The learning option was designed to allow students the option to perform 20 hours of direct service in an agency serving low income clients, and to link their experience to course content through a journal and paper. With input from the academic dean, the following service learning criteria were established:

    1. Service learning would be an educational option, not a course requirement.
    2. Service learning would represent a relatively small portion of the final grade (10-20%).
    3. A significant feature of the final evaluation of service learning would be the application and integration of academic content.
    4. Reflection would be included as part of the experience.

    These criteria have served as the framework for all subsequent service learning on campus. Service learning immediately proved to be a valuable educational tool, with multiple benefits, and it was quickly expanded to the other three social work courses.

    In the fall of 1989 the social work instructor, Professor Dan Forbes, was asked to direct the newly formed Center for Volunteers (now named Meelia Center for Community Engagement). The center's work opened dozens of new doors for students to engage in significant service in the community, and that encouraged more faculty to consider experiential learning for their courses.

    In the spring of 2008 the Meelia Center coordinated service learning for 20 Saint Anselm faculty who taught 19 courses (27 sections) in 11 academic departments. Despite the broad scope of the program, individual service learners and the agencies they serve, receive appropriate attention and support. The Meelia Center is able to provide that support through the able assistance of its student leadership corps.

    Student coordination of community relationships was introduced in 1992. In the fall of 2004, the center began training all of its on site student coordinators to intentionally support the academic connections to the service experience. Student coordinators now actively assist student learning through careful assignment of service roles linked to learning goals and the facilitation of site-based reflections.

  • Service Learning Books

    There are a number of books available In the Meelia Center and in the Geisel Library for faculty, staff, students, and community partners interested in reading more about service learning.

    For information about books, journals, and other publications, call the Meelia Center at (603) 641-7108 or e-mail the office at meeliacenter@anselm.edu

    If interested in borrowing books from the Geisel Library see the library home page for additional information  or call the library at (603) 641-7300. The list of library books on service learning is below.

    Meelia Center Books

    1. 2001 Members Survey Executive Summary
    2. A Season of Service 2001
    3. A Season of Service 2002
    4. Benchmarks for Campus/Community Partnerships
    5. Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum
    6. Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher Ed.
    7. Essential Service-Learning Resources (2)
    8. Essential Resources
    9. Essential Service-Learning Resources
    10. Introduction to Service-Learning Toolkit: Readings and Resources for Faculty
    11. K-H Partnerships Tool Kit (2)
    12. Publications 2003
    13. Publications Spring 2004
    14. Rethinking Tradition: Integrating Service with Academic Study on College Campuses
    15. Revitalizing the Spirit of Democracy
    16. Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of SL in Higher Ed (2002)
    17. Service Learning Tip Sheets: A Faculty Resource Guide (Indiana Campus Compact) Service Matters
    18. Service Statistics 2002
    19. Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Spring 2002
    20. Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Summer 2003 (2)
    21. Service-Learning Consulting Corps
    22. Special Report 1999 (Building the SL Pyramid)
    23. The New Students Politics
    24. Voices of Service: A guide to College Student Service in NH (2001-2002) When Community Enters the Equation
    25. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL) (2)
    26. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (Vol. 9 # 1)
    27. MJCSL Service-Learning Course Design Workbook (Summer 2001) (2)
    28. A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection in Service Learning
    29. Advocacy, Activism, and the Internet: Community Organization and Social Policy
    30. Fostering Resiliency 2x4x8 Through Service-Learning (Evaluation Summary)
    31. Integrating Service with Academic Study (Spring 2003-Reader)
    32. Learning In Deed: The power of service-learning for American Schools
    33. Linking Service with Learning (Report from CIC)
    34. Service-learning and School Improvement in New Hampshire: Learning from the Field (2)
    35. The Journal of Public Affairs (Volume VI, 2002)
    36. University + Community Research Partnerships: A New Approach
    37. Welfare Reform: How Do We Define Success? (2001 Report)
    38. Where's The Learning In Service-Learning?
    39. Working Papers on Service-Learning 1997 (Cornell University)

    Geisel Library Books

    1. Acting Locally: SL in Environmental Studies - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.6
    2. Beyond The Tower: SL in Philosophy - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.12
    3. Connecting past and Present: SL in History - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.7
    4. Constuyendo Puentes: SL in Spanish - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.16
    5. Cultivating the Sociological Imagination: SL in Sociology - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.15
    6. Educating the Reflective Practitioner - Call Number LC1059. S45 1987
    7. Learning by Doing: SL in Accounting - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.1
    8. Learning With The Community: SL in Teacher Education - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.17
    9. Life, Learning, and Community: SL in Biology - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.2
    10. Linking Title I and SL - Call Number LC220.5 .L56 1996
    11. Projects That Matter: SL in Engineering - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.5
    12. Service Learning For All Students - Call Number L11 .F37 no. 375
    13. Service Learning: Curricular Apps. in Nursing - Call Number RT73 .P64 2001
    14. SL For Youth Empowerment and Social Change - Call Number LC220.5 .S458 1999
    15. SL and Community Service in K-12 (Gov Doc) - Call Number ED 1.328/4:SCH 6/2
    16. Practice of Change: SL in Women's Studies - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.18
    17. To Serve and Learn: The Spirit of Comm. in Liberal Ed. - Call Number LC220.5 .T6 1998
    18. Voices of Strong Democracy: SL in Communications - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.3
    19. With Service in Mind: SL in Psychology - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.14
    20. Working For The Community Good: SL in Management - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.8
    21. Creating community-responsive physicians: Medical Ed. - Call Number LC220.5 .A13 v.9

  • Student Resources

    The Student Resource Center is designed to support and strengthen student involvement in the community.

    If you are interested in learning more about service learning or have suggestions for new resources contact the Meelia Center at meeliacenter@anselm.edu or at (603) 641-7108.

    The resources below are here to help you with various aspects of service learning at Saint Anselm College.

    Forms and Procedures

    Students participating in service learning must fulfill certain requirements in addition to class work, and need to complete forms for the Meelia Center as well as for faculty.

    Requirements for Service Learning Students

    1. Perform at least 20 hours of service throughout the semester, and continue at site until the last week of the semester, even if hours have been completed
    2. Participate in all required orientations and reflection
    3. Be prompt and consistent attending site and always notify site of absences
    4. Take an active part in securing a service role that is consistent with course learning goals and personally challenging.
    5. Notify the Meelia Center immediately if you are having difficulty getting placed, or if your work is not adequate given the class learning goals and your own interests.
    6. Quickly respond to Meelia Staff requests for information, etc.

    Forms

    Student Leadership Model

    An Evolutionary Model for Student Leadership in Community Service & Service Learning Administration:
    The Evolution of Student Leadership At the Meelia Center for Community Engagement
    Saint Anselm College  

    Student Leadership Phase I: Office Assistant/ Project Leadership Model

    • Primary work of community engagement falls to Director
    • Students (primarily Federal Work Study) help manage community engagement
    • Additional student(s) coordinate one-day service events, or on-going service projects

    Duties for Office Assistant/ Project Leader include:

    • Receive community requests and solicit campus response
    • Help with volunteer recruitment, placement and support tasks
    • Help organize and run service events
    • Provide office coverage
    • Assist Director as needed

    Strengths of this model:

    • Provides needed support
    • Limited cost to institution allows program to stay under the radar
    • Increases student ownership & leadership in community engagement
    • Allows program to expand on and off campus presence and reputation

    Disadvantages of this Model include:

    • Student availability may not coincide with Director need
    • Students may hold limited view of their leadership role
    • Community comes to administrator as primary point of contact
    • Placement of student leader on campus limits their understanding and engagement in community, and their role in creating new opportunities for engagement

    Student Leadership Phase II: Affiliates Coordinator Model

    • Affiliates Coordinators assume primary responsibility for community engagement at a set of community agencies (affiliates)
    • Agencies are organized into sets by type of service, geography, or anticipated # of volunteers/service-learners. 

    Additional student(s) divided into roles that:

    • Coordinate one-day service events
    • Provide assistance in the office

    Duties of the Affiliates Coordinator include:

    • Establish working relationship with agency staff (may entail from 3-6 agencies, depending of student initiative and ability and administrative need.)
    • Help identify opportunities for service and service-learning at assigned sites
    • Help establish system for orientation, placement, supervision and support of volunteers and service-learners.
    • Serve as liaison between campus and community
    • Problem solve as needed
    • Keep Director apprised of status of community partnerships

    Strengths of this Model includes:

    • Tighter structure to manage engagement at agencies
    • Enhanced ability to monitor engagement and quickly respond to problems or new ideas
    • Program expansion is more intentional as Affiliate Coordinators develop new opportunities in response to agency requests, student interests, and course links for service-learning.
    • Frequently unleashes even greater student ownership and leadership of community engagement

    Disadvantages of this Model:

    • Students placed on campus may not gain level of community involvement to satisfy their own service impulse
    • Limits on direct involvement hinders deeper understanding of agency and community need and corresponding opportunity development
    • Requires a good measure of administrative capacity at the agency. Some agencies with great need may have to be by-passed if they lack strong agency supervision and administrative support.

    Student Leadership Phase III: On-Site & Affiliates Coordinator Model

    • On-site Coordinators perform their administrative support of community engagement directly from the site
    • Management of a single agency allows for focused attention and deeper involvement.  New opportunities emerge.
    • Experienced student leadership can provide novice Co-coordinators with on-the-job-training, and smooth leadership transition
    On-site coordinator duties include:
    • Collaborate with agency staff to define volunteer and service-learning engagement. Help agency with volunteer policies, orientation, supervision and evaluation.
    • On campus recruitment, and on-site placement and support of volunteers and service-learners
    • Assistance in ensuring service-learner engagement meets course learning goals
    • On-site problem solving
    • Resource development as needed
    • Assistance in monitoring student involvement
    • Provide direct service at agency, often establishing new levels of engagement that others can later occupy

    Advantages to this model:

    • Can target on-site coordination at agencies with many volunteers and service-learners
    • Can insert on-site coordinator where agency's administrative support is lacking
    • Can assign several on-site coordinators where campus engagement is multi-layered or extensive
    • Single student point of contact present at site can convince reluctant agency or faculty of campus' capacity to manage responsibilities.
    • Satisfies student leaders appetite for direct service involvement
    • Provides advancement opportunities for student leaders

    Disadvantages of this model:

    • Supervision of on-site coordinators creates a challenge
    • Effective use of on-site coordination can lead to rapid expansion of community engagement, creating strain on other administrative structures
    • Placement of on-site coordinators at only some sites may cause resentment at agencies without commitment of on-site coordination

    Student Leadership Phase IV: Comprehensive Student Leadership Model

    • Creates an additional layer of office management to support an expanded evel of community engagement
    • Assistant Director has role in managing and supervising on-site and affiliate coordinators
    • Office Manager has role in managing and supervising office assistants and service events
    • Additional Coordinators manage Transportation, Public Relations, Web Page, Information Management, etc.
    • Student Assistant Director and Office manager serve as management team along with Director and the Administrative Assistant to develop and refine policies and procedures, and manage overall community engagement.
    • Throughout the student leadership ranks staff are encouraged to serve on committees focused on volunteer recognition, leadership training, team building, policies and procedures, communications, etc.
    • Other campus professional staff (HR, Communications, College Advancement, Career Services) are invited to help train and support the student management team and committees.

    Advantages to this model:

    • Where administrative resources are limited, this structure helps get the important work accomplished
    • Maximizes student leadership development and opportunities for promotion
    • Student volunteers & service-learners may be more open in expressing concerns to student supervisors, enabling problems to be addressed sooner.
    • Reducing the number of students that any one person manages, provides greater support
    • Provides a whole new dimension of professional development for student leaders
    • High level of student leadership, student management and subsequent community engagement may create resource development opportunities that further program development.

    Disadvantages of this model:

    • Students are sometimes reluctant to hold their peers accountable
    • May be difficult to find the right student leader for all positions (especially given reliance on work-study to pay student leaders)
    • Tight schedules, and semester-to-semester changes in schedules hinders some student leaders getting to site or delegating tasks to office assistants as needed
    • Sometimes academic overload can cause students to fall short in meeting responsibilities
    • Student leaders are often drawn to multiple campus leadership roles
    • Ability to effectively manage all work may reduce pressure on campus administrators to increase professional support for the community engagement office.

    Student Leadership Phase V: Comprehensive Model, integrated with Federal Work Study and Institutional Advancement

    • Maximizes use of FWS and College generated payroll and scholarship resources to allow for broad recruitment and retention of skilled student leaders
    • Provides student leaders a differential pay scale to correspond with responsibilities
    • Serves as a visible testimony of campus commitment to service and service leadership; facilitates recruitment of new student leaders and the development of outside resources

    Advantages to this model:

    • Can help campus meet 7% FWS community service requirement
    • With proper documentation the college's contribution to a student's FWS wages can fall to 10% (if a contract exists for on-site coordinators) or 0% (for AmericaReads)
    • Pay differentials encourage new students to apply for service leadership positions
    • Pay differentials encourages students to take on additional responsibility
    • Grant resources or college pay roll to support non FWS coordinators ensures that all jobs filled with quality leadership
    • Scholarship assistance beyond hourly compensation rewards leadership and may allow for greater post-graduation service involvement and leadership
    • Broader and more significant community engagement creates new opportunities for college advancement to secure dedicated resources for the community service center

    Disadvantages of this model:

    • Higher pay scale and expanded programming and leadership staff increases college cost of community engagement
    • Reductions in overall FWS allotments to college may lead to reductions in Community Service FWS allotment
    • Increased Community Service FWS may reduce availability of FWS to other campus departments
    • Economic downturn may lead more students to use of FWS eligibility across campus and thus lead to a reduction in FWS allotment for all campus departments, including community engagement

    Student Leadership Phase VI: Comprehensive Model with Leadership Teams

    • Organizes community engagement center's work into groups of activity and deploys a Team Leader to support each group
    • Groups include Family and Children Team, Education Team, Adult and Teens, Community Outreach (i.e. work managed primarily by the community engagement center)
    • Multiple Team Leaders conduct work formally performed by Student Assistant Director and Student Office Manager
    • Expands student representation on engagement center's management team, bringing greater student voice to the table
    Advantages to this model:
    • Reduces the risk of overwhelming students on the management team
    • Increases team-building potential within smaller student groups and strengthens relationship between the team leader and their assigned coordinators
    • Allows students within each team to more fully support and develop one another
    • Increases likelihood that student management team can conduct regular site visits.
    • Increases student leadership promotion opportunities
    • Smaller groups accelerate the orientation and training of new staff, especially the start-up of the academic year
    • Allows for new ideas and approaches to spread more quickly
    • New teams can be added and agencies moved around as the need arise to accommodate added sites or to achieve a different balance in management team responsibilities
    • Allows Team Leaders to expand individualized support to student coordinators
    • Closer management allows teams to be quickly activated to respond to the urgent business of the engagement center as needed

    Disadvantages of this model:

    • Adds to the number of student management team positions creating recruitment challenges
    • Adds another layer of leadership responsibility as teams are called upon to build strong connections with the engagement center and other teams
    • Increases the work of the Director to develop and support the expanded management team
    • Expands use of center's FWS and payroll resources on in-direct support of community engagement.

    Advocacy Web Sites

    The links below are resources to better help students understand the needs of the community. In addition, there are opportunities to get involved in policy and advocacy work.

    There are links to all the areas included on the list below. It also contains the latest publications regarding government policy, covering the last 10 years.

    Advocacy Link Categories

    Advocacy and public policy links for volunteers
    CLASP : The Center for Law and Social Policy

    Children and Youth

    National Association for Family Child Care
    The National Association for Family Child Care is a non profit organization dedicated to promoting quality child care by strengthening the profession of family child care.

    Center for the Child Care Workforce
    The Centre for the Child Care Workforce's mission is to improve the quality of early care and education for children by promoting policy, research, and organizing that ensure the early care and education workforce is well-educated, receives better compensation, and has a voice in the workplace.

    The National Child Care Information Center
    The NCCIC is a service of the Child Care Bureau, a national clearinghouse and technical assistance center that links parents, providers, policy-makers, researchers, and the public to early care and education information.

    National Association for the Education of Young Children
    The National Association for the Education of Young Children's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources

    National Network for Youth
    The mission of the National Network for Youth is to champion the needs of runaway, homeless, and other disconnected youth through advocacy, innovation, and services.

    Family

    Guide to Careers in Child and Family Policy
    This site contains links to all sorts of training and job opportunities in the family welfare sector. These range from academic programs to internships and full time jobs.

    The Institute for Child and Family Policy
    The mission of the Institute for Child and Family Policy is to identify and address fundamental and intractable problems in the formulation, analysis, implementation, and evaluation of social policies toward children, youth, and families.

    The Center for Family Policy and Practice
    The CFPP is a nationally focused public policy organization conducting policy research, technical assistance, training, litigation, and public education in order to focus attention on the barriers faced by never married, low income fathers and their families.

    Criminal and Juvenile Justice

    Child Welfare League of America
    The latest Congressional moves in juvenile justice, background information, and how to get involved.

    Juvenile Justice Initiative
    The Juvenile Justice Initiative (J.J.I.) is a statewide advocacy coalition to transform the juvenile justice system. The J.J.I. advocates to reduce reliance on detention, to enhance fairness for all youth and to develop adequate community based resources throughout the state.

    Building Blocks for Youth
    The Building Blocks for Youth initiative is an alliance of children and youth advocates, researchers, law enforcement professionals, and community organizers that seeks to reduce overrepresentation and disparate treatment of youth of color in the justice system and promote fair, rational, and effective juvenile justice policies.

    National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
    The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges is dedicated to serving the nation's children and families by improving the courts of juvenile and family jurisdictions. Our mission is to better the justice system through education and applied research and improve the standards, practices, and effectiveness of the juvenile court system.

    National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
    The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice is dedicated to assisting the field in developing improved policies and programs for youth with mental health disorders in contact with the juvenile justice system.

    The Center for Race and Juvenile Justice Policy
    The University of Northern Florida's Center for Race and Juvenile Justice Policy coordinates the implementation, design, and evaluation of policies that promote social justice.

    Elderly

    Foundation Aiding The Elderly
    The objective of Foundation Aiding The Elderly is to serve as a voice for patients and to bring about national reforms and enforcement of the laws governing the nursing home industry.

    The National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
    The National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) provides information and leadership on federal and state regulatory and legislative policy development and models and strategies to improve care and life for residents of nursing homes and other long term care facilities.

    The National Council on the Aging
    The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) is a national voice and powerful advocate for public policies, societal attitudes, and business practices that promote vital aging.

    The Gerontological Society of America
    The Gerontological Society of America is a non profit professional organization with more than 5000 members in the field of aging. It provides researchers, educators, practitioners, and policy makers with opportunities to understand, advance, integrate, and use basic and applied research on aging to improve the quality of life as one ages.

    Special Needs, Disabled, and Handicapped

    The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps
    TASH is an organization of members concerned with human dignity, civil rights, education, and independence for all individuals with disabilities. We have more than 30 chapters and members from 34 different countries and territories.

    National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
    The National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) has a vision of a society where people with disabilities exercise self determination and choice and have equality of opportunity and full participation. NAPAS believes this vision will be realized through the enactment and vigorous enforcement of laws protecting civil and human rights.

    Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
    It collaborates with local, regional and national advocacy and consumer organizations to reform public systems and promote consumer participation in the design and operation of service programs.

    Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
    The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is a coalition of approximately 100 national disability organizations working together to advocate for national public policy that ensures the self determination, independence, empowerment, integration, and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.

    Refugees and Immigrants

    National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
    The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights works to promote a just immigration and refugee policy in the United States and to defend and expand the rights of all immigrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status.

    Refugee Council USA
    The Refugee Council USA is a coalition of U.S. non governmental organizations focused on refugee protection. The Refugee Council USA provides focused advocacy on issues affecting the protection and rights of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, victims of trafficking, and victims of torture in the United States and across the world.

    Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
    The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund was founded by a group of lawyers, law students, and community activists who believed that the law should be used as a tool to achieve social and economic justice for Asian Americans and all Americans.

    American Civil Liberties Union
    The American Civil Liberties Union works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

    Education

    The National Rural Education Association
    The purpose of the National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition is to advocate for the highest quality education for the children of rural America's public schools.

    The Center for Education Reform
    The Center for Education Reform provides reform minded citizens and legislators with the tools necessary to implement change.

  • Faculty Resources

    The Faculty Resource Center is designed to support and strengthen faculty involvement with service learning. We welcome submissions of new resources and ideas.

    Saint Anselm College's mission is to provide its students with a distinctive liberal arts education that incorporates opportunities for professional and career preparation. It does so in a learning community that encourages the lifelong pursuit of the truth and fosters intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth to sustain and enrich its graduates' personal lives, work, and engagement within local, national, and global communities.

    Faculty interested in service learning should contact the Meelia Center at meeliacenter@anselm.edu or at (603) 641-7108.

    Service Learning Model

    Service learning at Saint Anselm helps advance the college's mission to develop "creative and generous" students. For faculty to embrace service learning as a teaching tool, however, it needed to be integrated into the curriculum in a manner that remained true to the academic standards and principles for which Saint Anselm is known.

    The ultimate service-learning model was defined with early and ongoing input from the academic dean, and it has become the framework followed by most faculty. Saint Anselm College's service learning model establishes:

    1. Service learning is always one of several options for students. This respects the student's right to choose, and it places equal value on a range of learning strategies.
    2. The service-learning option always represents a small part of the final grade, usually ranging from 15-20 percent. High academic standards are maintained by placing appropriate weight on all aspects of class learning. 
    3. Service learning at Saint Anselm, consistent with accepted definitions, ensures rigorous integration of academic content. This is frequently evaluated through a journal, final paper and/or presentation.
    4. Faculty at Saint Anselm are encouraged to engage students in significant reflection. Each faculty member devises their own manner of reflection, with strategies ranging from journals and Blackboard or in-class discussions.

    The Meelia Center holds separate out-of-class reflections facilitated by students and administrators. For the past several years, service-learning faculty have joined together in an end of the semester interdisciplinary reflection/celebration, to which community agency personal and campus administrators are also invited.

    Forms and Procedures

    The Meelia Center provides requirements and forms for faculty

    Requirements for service learning faculty:

    1. Submit goals in a timely fashion to service learning coordinator
    2. Attend and require students to attend the orientation/placement or allow an in class service learning orientation
    3. Receive service-learning faculty training
    4. Distribute and collect contracts signed by students and site supervisor
    5. Require students to participate in two of the three scheduled reflections, and participate in at least one reflection
    6. Distribute and collect evaluations (mid-semester and end of semester) and return to service learning coordinator after review

    Students participating in service learning are required:

    1. Perform AT LEAST 20 hours of service throughout the semester, and continue at site until the last week of the semester, even if hours have been completed
    2. Participate in all required orientations and reflection
    3. Be prompt and consistent attending site and always notify site of absences
    4. Take an active part in securing a service role that is consistent with course learning goals and personally challenging
    5. Notify the Meelia Center [link meeliacenter@anselm.edu] immediately if he or she is having difficulty getting placed, or if his or her work is not adequate given the class learning goals and their own interests

    Forms:

    Below are commonly requested forms. If a hard copy is desired please email the Meelia Center or stop by the office.

    Service Learning Process

     

    1. Faculty members notify service learning coordinator of intent to offer service learning as an option in a course (ideally before courses are due to the registrar to give them an "s-l" notation in the course book).
    2. Faculty members then submit three to four learning goals to the service learning coordinator that will direct selection of placement sites and will direct student learning in the community.
    3. The service learning coordinator creates a list of appropriate placements based on the course learning goals and faculty member preferences. The faculty member reviews and approves the list of service learning placements sites.
    4. Within the two weeks before classes begin faculty members will be asked to approve the final site list and choose to either have an in-class orientation for students in the first or second class, or to require students to attend an evening orientation, which the faculty member must also attend.
    5. Students will be given contracts to be signed by the site and returned to the faculty member. Contracts will be submitted to service learning coordinator at the end of the semester.
    6. All service learning students and faculty are enrolled in Service Learning Course in Blackboard where important document and resources are available.
    7. Faculty members continually enhance the service learning experiences for students by engaging them in reflection and dialogue. Reflection ideas are included in this packet and are posted on Blackboard. The Meelia Center conducts three out of class reflections. Students are required to attend at least two; faculty members may decide to hold their own reflection sessions.
    8. Status forms are forwarded to faculty members two weeks after the service learning placement deadline to verify student site, orientation and start date.
    9. Completed mid semester and final evaluations are submitted to faculty member for review.
    10. Toward the end of the semester, faculty members are asked to collect final student evaluations and return them to service learning coordinator. They may also be asked to distribute evaluations done by site.

    Web Resources

    International Partnership for Service-Learning (IPSL)
    The International Partnership for Service-Learning (IPSL) offered in 14 countries, unites academic study and volunteer service, giving students a fully integrated study abroad experience.

    Campus Compact
    Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 900 college and university presidents committed to the civic purposes of higher education. To support this civic mission, Campus Compact promotes community service that develops students' citizenship skills and values, encourages partnerships between campuses and communities, and assists faculty who seek to integrate public and community engagement into their teaching and research.

    New Hampshire Campus Compact
    N.H. Campus Compact Web site provides guidelines for developing and incorporating service learning into the instructor's curriculum.

    National Service Learning Clearinghouse
    Information and resources for faculty and students; search the NSLC Library for journals, articles, and much more.

    Learn and Serve
    Learn and Serve America supports and encourages service-learning throughout the United States, and enables over one million students to make meaningful contributions to their community while building their academic and civic skills.

    The Big Dummy's Guide to Service Learning
    This Web site provides 27 simple answers to good questions on: faculty, programmatic, student, administrative, & non-profit issues.

    Experiential Learning in Higher Education: Linking Classroom and Community
    This review of literature focuses on experiential learning in higher education. While the literature suggests that experiential learning is a necessary and vital component of formal instruction in colleges and universities, controversy exists among scholars about its place and use. Join in on Discussion and post your issues on the forum.

    Information about Service Learning

    The Institute for Global Education and Service
    The Institute for Global Education & Service-Learning (IGESL) is a non-profit organization that provides training and technical assistance to schools, community organizations, and National Service programs.

    Corporation for National Service
    The Corporation for National and Community Service plays a vital role in supporting the American culture of citizenship, service and responsibility.

    The Feinstein Center
    The University of Rhode Island's Feinstein Center for Service Learning promotes the integration of service with academic study in order to enhance student learning and involvement with communities and their agencies.

    Resources for Service Learning Programs

    National Service Learning Partnership
    Service learning is a form of instruction in which students design projects to address community needs as part of their academic studies.

    National Service Learning Exchange
    The National Service-Learning Exchange supports high quality service-learning programs in schools, colleges and universities, and community organizations. The National Service-Learning Exchange operates five Regional Centers with knowledgeable staff who can provide information to support your service-learning efforts, and/or link you with a Peer Mentor to provide further one-on-one assistance. If you need assistance implementing service-learning programs, have questions, or simply want to speak with someone who has "been there," call or e-mail the exchange.

    Guide to Service Learning Sites and Student Responsibilities
    This is a good outline as to what service learning students need to do before, after, and during their work experience.

    Excellent Overall Sites
    The Madison House
    The Madison House is a non-profit organization that promotes leadership development, inspires volunteer service, and cultivates relationships between University of Virginia students and the surrounding community.

    Engaging America's Students a Lifelong Habit of Service
    Videos and transcripts of president Bush's ideas for service learning

    Project Pericles
    An initiative sponsored by the Eugene Lang Foundation, Project Pericles has challenged ten colleges and universities to provide a learning experience that will "instill in students an abiding and active sense of social responsibility and civic concern." Elon has accepted the challenge, which fits with the university's stated mission to prepare students to be global citizens and informed leaders and to foster an ethic of work and service.

  • Community Resources

    Service learning brings the community into the learning and teaching process as it combines classroom instruction with community service. Students apply classroom theories to practical problems, addressing real community needs and increasing the likelihood of personal and civic growth.

    Students spend at least 20 hours during the semester volunteering at a site of their choice. English for New Americans, Child and Family Services, the Hillsborough County Nursing Home, and Headstart, are just a few of the more than 50 sites currently partnered with the Meelia Center. Students may tutor kids, raise funds, or advocate for change.

    If you'd like to become a community partner please contact the Meelia Center at meeliacenter@anselm.edu or call 603-641-7108.

    Service Learning Model

    Service learning at Saint Anselm helps advance the college's mission to develop "creative and generous" students.

    The ultimate service-learning model was defined with early and ongoing input from the academic dean, and it has become the framework followed by most faculty. Saint Anselm College's service learning model establishes:

    1. Service learning is always one of several options for students. This respects the student's right to choose, and it places equal value on a range of learning strategies.
    2.  The service-learning option always represents a small part of the final grade, usually ranging from 15-20 percent. High academic standards are maintained by placing appropriate weight on all aspects of class learning.
    3. Service learning at Saint Anselm, consistent with accepted definitions, ensures rigorous integration of academic content. This is frequently evaluated through a journal, final paper and/or presentation.
    4. Faculty at Saint Anselm are encouraged to engage students in significant reflection. Each faculty member devises their own manner of reflection, with strategies ranging from journals and Blackboard or in-class discussions.

    The Meelia Center holds separate out-of-class reflections facilitated by students and administrators. For the past several years, service-learning faculty have joined together in an end of the semester interdisciplinary reflection/celebration, to which community agency personal and campus administrators are also invited.

    Requirements and Forms

    Currently more than 40 organizations partner with the Meelia Center to host service learners. Community agencies are asked to fulfill certain requirements put forth by the Meelia Center. For additional information regarding procedures please call the Meelia Center at (603) 641-7108 or e-mail at meeliacenter@anselm.edu.

    Requirements for service learning agencies

    1. Work with service learners to create a relevant service-learning experience
    2. Attend an agency training
    3. Communicate about any problems or concerns with on-site student coordinator or service learning coordinator
    4. Fill out and return all evaluations and contracts in a timely manner

    Forms