As mentioned above, honors seminars fulfill 50% of a student’s gen- eral education requirement. The program requires students to enroll in two seminars in the first year, two seminars during the sophomore year, and three during the junior year. (See Appendix 1.) In addition, students must complete an international or multicultural experience that can be fulfilled any time during their four years at Dominican. During the senior year, students enroll in a seminar that prepares them for successful completion of their honors thesis or project, their honors portfolio, and their submission of an abstract and paper for conference presentation.
According to the findings of Christine A. Stanley, many American institutions of higher education are attracting increasing numbers of women, students of color, nontraditional students defined by age, stu- dents with disabilities, students with varying sexual preferences, and international students. As one of these institutions, Dominican University is committed to promoting and maintaining diversity on campus. Thus the honors program makes concerted efforts to recruit and retain students from diverse backgrounds. During 2005–2007, over a third of honors students were of African American, Latin American, Asian American, and multiracial backgrounds, a ratio we have basically maintained. (See Appendix 2.) Notably, many students from these backgrounds exhibit interest in an education that has applicability to the issues experienced in their communities, as the following sections of this chapter attest.
The Honors Program and Service Learning
Sam Marullo, a professor of sociology at Georgetown University, con- cludes “Bringing Home Diversity,” with a strong statement drawn from his own research and experience:
From the micro-level effects of changing individual student’s understanding of diversity to the middle-range impact of alter- ing the power relations in the community to the macro-level effect of altering the goals of higher education institutions to
address social problems and changing their relationship to the surrounding community, service-learning has powerful trans- formative potential. (272)
Through implementation of pre- and post-survey questions and various other assessment tools, including his own observation and interaction with students, Marullo compares and assesses the differences between two different pedagogical approaches: in-class experiential exercises and service learning. He illustrates the ways his findings demonstrate that service learning improves students’ learning in the “areas of citi- zenship, empowerment, leadership, moral development, and their abil- ity to understand causes of social problems” (271). Additionally, his findings convince him that service-learning students will remember course material longer than the students in his “more traditional courses” and notes that these experiences “may be more likely to inform their behavior in communities later in life” (271). Although written over ten years ago, Marullo’s verification of the powerful bene- fits of well-implemented service-learning pedagogy echoes ever louder as new research emerges regarding its efficacy as an educative tool that exposes students to multiple perspectives while developing critical- thinking skills and enriching academic content.
The impact of this approach on teaching and learning is evident on our campus. Formally established in 2004, the Service-Learning Program promotes, supports, and provides resources to faculty, stu- dents, and community partners to engender engaged learning, civic awareness, and social responsibility through curricular-driven service- learning projects and collaborative relationships. Students enrolled in service-learning courses provide service in response to community- identified concerns; they learn about the context in which service is provided and the elements that connect their service, their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens.
The community work done by the students, which is documented in this chapter, largely transpired from their participation in “Self, Community, and Service: Ethical Theory and Practice,” a required course for all sophomore-level honors students that also fulfills their General Education in Moral Philosophy component. (Refer to Appendix 1; for course overview and texts, see Appendix 3.) The Service-Learning Program began in 2004 with one honors course. Now, as it continues to be fully integrated into the ethos and curriculum of the university, more than twenty courses across the disciplines offer ser- vice learning. Several offerings are exclusively honors courses and the- matic colloquiums; these courses are listed at the junior-level under the
rubric of Global Community and Social Justice in Appendix 1. For example, the colloquium “Radical Response: Social Initiative in a Changing World” engages students in service-learning initiatives, allowing them the opportunity to deepen the work and understandings initiated in “Self, Community, and Service,” the sophomore-level course. Community partnerships are cultivated by the Office of Service- Learning and by individual faculty. Dialogue between faculty and com- munity partners is crucial because reciprocity and collaboration are central to service learning. Another key component of a well-designed course is academic connection and rigor; community partnerships are established for specific courses in order that the course and student learning goals are aligned with the work students will be doing with the organization. At the same time, this work must address issues identified by the community itself and must make a contribution to the commu- nity. The remaining criteria, reflection and assessment, are built into assignments and class time to assist students in making connections between theory and practice while deepening their critical thinking and their ability to discern root causes of community issues. Engaging students in the intentional bridging from theory to practice and encouraging them to look below the surface experience are important. In our geographic location, going into certain sectors of our commu- nity can be an especially eye-opening experience.