Academic Service-Learning Initiative

Mission

True to the mission of Albertus Magnus College to provide an education that is humanistically enlarging and practical in its application, the Academic Service-Learning Initiative cultivates partnerships between the College and the Greater New Haven Community that afford students the opportunity to practice civic engagement and social responsibility as they develop workforce and community leadership skills.

What is Academic Service-Learning?

Academic Service-Learning experiences are structured experiential education approach that connects academic course work, preparation, and reflection with community service through collaboration and reciprocal learning. Students engage in service that meets identified community needs, expands course content, develops civic engagement, social responsibility and personal values and prepares them to become responsible, productive citizens.

Goals:

Service-Learning experiences are designed to enable students to:

• learn how their academic discipline or profession can meet the needs of society
• engage in an organized service activity that is both relevant to the course and meets an actual need of the community
• connect the service activity with course principles, theories and concepts
• integrate critical thinking and reflection with academic learning
• share their service work with the community partner, college community and public
• develop their ability to create partnerships based on mutuality and reciprocity
• gain an appreciation of social diversity through working with different populations