The Initiative for Community-Based Learning and Research is a cross-programmatic project funded by a grant from Washington State Campus Compact and Learn and Serve America. The initiative promotes and supports faculty and staff development of community-based scholarship and service learning opportunities for students at the University of Washington Bothell. The initiative deepens efforts to fulfill the UW Bothell mission of (1) providing students with access to excellence in higher education through transformative interdisciplinary learning experiences, and (2) contributing meaningfully to sustainable regional development through campus-community partnerships. The initiative is also responsive to the needs of students across our campus who have come to expect experiential and service-learning opportunities as part of a high-quality university education.The initiative has the following goals:
- Support high-quality learning experiences for UW Bothell students that integrate academic knowledge with meaningful engagement in community organizations
- Encourage and provide support for faculty and staff to engage in pedagogically sound, community-based service learning among and across programs at UW Bothell
- Connect faculty and student research agendas with problems, needs, and strengths identified by community stakeholders
- Coordinate for maximum efficiency the various initiatives at UW Bothell that involve community-based learning and community partnerships
- Facilitate long-term action and research projects in which students can be engaged beyond a single course or single instructor
One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world."
Anne Radcliffe