La Sierra University Addresses "Global Realities"
by Partnering with Community

By infusing service throughout its academic curriculum, La Sierra University has "sought to become a genuinely community-based institution" according to Rennie B. Schoepflin and his colleagues at the Riverside, California, university. Over the last five years, not only have student curricula and pedagogical practices been revised to integrate service activities with theoretical contexts, but programs have been instituted that partner the university with community organizations, transforming La Sierra into an institution dedicated to the "global realities" of today's world. Dr. Schoepflin, Associate Professor of History and Chair of La Sierra's Department of History, Politics, and Society, writes that "higher education must dedicate itself to a partnership with organizations outside of the academy that are committed to creative change through communal interaction."

Changes that La Sierra has instituted include:

• General Education/Course-Based Service Learning - In 1996, a service component was phased into the general studies program requiring all students to complete a minimum of 15 hours of community service for each year in residence. Students choose from a wide range of projects to complete this annual requirement.

• Arlanza/La Sierra Community Collaborative - Through this program, La Sierra students serve as mentors and tutors to students at four elementary schools in the local community. In the past year more than 100 La Sierra students have provided these services to as many as 250 local elementary school children. La Sierra University has also recently partnered with Riverside's Alvord school district and Riverside Community College in the planning, building, and operation of the Center for Innovative Teaching. Supported by an initial grant of $10 million from the California governor's office, this new district school is scheduled for ground-breaking in 2002.

• Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) - Since 1995 La Sierra students, working through SIFE, have developed such projects as Kids-R-Preneurs, My First Bank Account, and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Waste Exchange. These and other projects involve La Sierra students in teaching, and consequently learning, socially responsible, free enterprise-based solutions to meet the needs of underprivileged individuals and groups. These solutions can equip all of those involved in the program, both La Sierra students and those they teach, with the tools to help them succeed and improve their lives.

• Institute for Cultural Exchange - Through this program, La Sierra facilitates a communal dialogue on cultural issues among business people, healthcare professionals, educators, government and civic leaders, and members of faith-based organizations to "promote community leadership and self-sufficiency." To this end, La Sierra is partnering with the Family Service Association of Western Riverside County, an institution committed to identifying and capitalizing on resources and assets within a community, in order to promote community leadership and self-sufficiency.

La Sierra University will be among those institutions presenting sessions at AAC&U's Annual Meeting, "Changing Students in a Changing World," scheduled for January 23 through 26, 2002, in Washington, DC. For details on this conference, see www.aacu.org/meetings/annual.cfm.

For more information about La Sierra University and its service learning components, see www.lasierra.edu.