Muhlenberg Receives $50K Mellon Grant For Service Learning
Thursday, April 22, 2004 10:24 AM
Muhlenberg College has received a $50,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to augment and extend its service-learning curriculum.
The grant will allow 10 faculty members to develop summer courses for experiential and service learning, and to participate in a workshop designed to aid in the development of the courses from departments throughout Muhlenberg's extensive liberal arts curriculum. In addition, the grant will fund a temporary part-time position in the office of community service. This staff member will work closely with faculty members to identify and develop additional service learning opportunities.
"Muhlenberg's faculty have already displayed energy, ingenuity, and altruism in designing liberal arts courses that link classroom theory with practice in the wonderful urban laboratory that Allentown provides," says Muhlenberg President Peyton R. Helm. "This grant will allow us to accelerate the expansion of this approach to teaching - it will benefit both our students and our community."
Service learning is a hallmark of Muhlenberg's campus climate, with 80 percent of students participating in community service efforts during their four years in college. Last year, students committed an estimated 50,000 hours of volunteer work in Allentown community centers, schools, hospices, day care centers, nursing homes and other local venues. The service-learning program funded by the Mellon grant advances Muhlenberg's commitment to training students for lives of leadership and service.
