Champlain College
IN-26: Innovation C

In the fall of 2016, Champlain College established the Center for Service & Sustainability (Center) of which I am the Director. The Center is unique in that it combines Sustain Champlain, Champlain College’s campus sustainability initiative that dates back to 2008, with service and service-learning. This combination creates a powerful synergy in which campus sustainability initiatives are merged with student learning, education, and service. This nexus came from the realization that our students were not deeply engaging in sustainability or service efforts outside of their academic and professional experiences, so we decided to embed them within their courses.

An example of one of our positive measurable outcomes is as follows: In the fall of 2017, we started designating courses as Service-Learning. To date, we have successfully approved 28 courses, across the five academic divisions at Champlain College. In the 2018-2019 school year, we had 582 students taking a service-learning course - approximately ¼ of our on-campus students. The Center provides resources and support to Champlain faculty who wish to pursue service-learning opportunities in their classes, namely through out annual Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program, and in the spring of 2018, we named our first Service-Learning Faculty Award winner. Potential service-learning projects are categorized by the closest-fitting Sustainable Development (SDG) goal, and in our June 2019 annual report we will associate all activities with the relevant SDG.