Academics: Community Engagement and Service Learning

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE LEARNING

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are honored to be among the 28 baccalaureate colleges selected for the 2010 Community Engagement Classification designation by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The Colleges were also named 17th overall among the nation's liberal arts colleges in the area of service by Washington Monthly in its 2010 "College Guide" rankings. Lastly, the Colleges were one of 114 institutions to be named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

At Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a liberal arts education is more than a major and a minor and fulfilling the 8 Goals. It is about producing graduates who have the experience and skills to become active citizens who are engaged leaders in their communities. The Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning is at the heart of this enterprise. The Center stands for learning through service that produces students who are civically engaged and graduates who are active, global citizens. It does this by providing the opportunities that help students build the skills necessary for active citizenship.

Through HWS Compass students are encouraged to explore the many facets of service to society. A four-step program, Compass provides experiences in Community Service, Civic Engagement, and Civic Leadership that chart the course to a life of Engaged Citizenship. Students are connected with service and engagement opportunities on-campus, in the area surrounding Geneva, outside the local region and even internationally. These experiences are meant to help students develop citizenship skills such as leadership, self-awareness, and recognizing societal needs while making a material change that will help meet identified community needs.

A major component of these experiences is academic and co-curricular service-learning, linking the service activity to intentional reflection that clearly places the service in a larger context, whether that is with classroom content or experiencing first hand the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Annually, students contribute over 30,000 hours of service and engagement to local, national, and international communities and generate approximately $20,000.00 in fundraising efforts that are directed to non-profit organizations.

Please refer to the links to gain further information about the Center's programs and offerings.