Faculty Fellows Service-Learning Seminar

Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program
The Center for Community Engagement accepts 5-6 faculty each year to participate in the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows program, in which faculty meet weekly during the spring semester to learn about service-learning pedagogy and redesign an academic course to include a service-learning component.  

The seminar lasts the full spring term and meets 1.5 hours/week. Faculty are awarded a $2400 stipend to use during the semester they teach their new service-learning course, which can be processed as direct payment to the faculty member (minus fringe benefits) or as reimbursement to an academic program for a course release. Service-Learning Fellowships are open to full-time USM faculty members at the rank of instructor and above.  

Benefits of Faculty Fellows Program

• Stipend/Course Release
• Interdisciplinary Dialogue
• Pedagogical Training
• Professional Development
• Community Connections
• Syllabus Workshop
• Mini-Grants or Awards

• October: Applications Available
• December:  Selection Notification
• January:     Seminar Begins  

Seminar meeting time is chosen based on participants' schedules. 

 What is Service-Learning?

• Relevant & Meaningful Service
• Enhanced Academic Learning
• Purposeful Civic Learning
• Balances the needs of students, academic content, and community-identified needs

• It’s a high-impact educational practice (Kuh, 2008)
• Students who participate in service-learning classes are more likely to complete degrees (Lockeman & Pelco, 2013)
• It positively affects students’
  • Understanding of social issues
  • Personal insight
  • Cognitive development (Yorio & Ye, 2011)