Service Learning

Our mission is to enhance learning and deepen civic responsibility by integrating community service with reflection and study.

     The Virginia Tech Service-Learning program is now a part of the Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships (CSECP). The Service-Learning program was established in January 1995 as an academic unit in the College of Arts and Sciences. The call for a university wide service-learning program was the work of an ad hoc committee of faculty, students, and community partners, led by Lucinda Roy (then in the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences) and Cornel Morton (former Dean of Students Office).

     The committee conceived of service-learning as "the most innovative and creative means we have to combat student apathy, foster communication between campus and non-campus communities, and serve the needs of Southwest Virginia in practical and lasting ways" (from Service-Learning at Virginia Tech, A New Partnership with the Community, March 1994). In the fall of 2002, as a part of the university restructuring process, Service-Learning became a unit in Outreach and International Affairs.

     The purpose of the Service-Learning program is to provide logistical assistance, resource support, and standards of best practice to units across campus wanting to incorporate community service into their educational mission. Every year we provide placement assistance to over 1,500 Virginia Tech students involved in course-based or co-curricular community service. Last year we engaged students from 75 different courses or programs. Our goal is to increase the level of involvement in service learning at Virginia Tech every year.

*Learn more about any of our programs by clicking on the links to the left*