Pitzer College
EN-12: Community Service

Our commitment to our faculty continues over the long term to provide evidence of community engagement endeavors for individual faculty member promotion, tenure and reviews. The institution supports faculty involvement in civic engagement programs and teaching academic service-learning courses by providing: Awards for recognition and grants for re-design and conferences Faculty development workshops/fellowships Service-learning and community orientation in faculty orientation Modern curriculum models and sample syllabi Materials to assist faculty in reflection and assessment Sabbaticals for service-learning research, scholarship, and program development

Since its inception (and, in large part, as an inspiration for it), Pitzer College has been committed to fostering in its students a critical depth of understanding around the social and political implications of knowledge and action. Students who can skillfully engage in ethical projects of social change and political engagement (both locally and globally) and faculty whose teaching and scholarship encompass both disciplinary rigor and applied benefits for our communities are primary goals of our school. We accomplish these aims in large part through our extensive service-learning courses and our “social responsibility” core learning objective and graduation requirement. Pitzer far surpasses the rest of the country in its community service efforts: the National Survey of Student Engagement has found that nationally an average of 60% of a college or university participates in community service (volunteer, work study or course-related) while at Pitzer that number is 93%. Pitzer invests significant financial and human capital into supporting service, primarily through its Community Engagement Center (which is funded through hard money and has a staff of 6). This Center has overseen and supported engaged scholarship at Pitzer College since 1998 by offering research awards and fellowships to faculty, staff, and students and connecting them with local community-based organizations that address a variety of social and cultural issues. Almost all students who do community service through service-learning courses (and many who volunteer to do so without a correlating course) are connected through CEC to gain entry to and placement at a community site, support for transportation there and an orientation on ethical standards and legal obligations.