Service learning will soon be on the doorstep of every department courtesy of Cade Cypriano, Student Government Association president and political science senior.

His proposal, which would eventually incorporate community service into each student’s curriculum, is a part of a strategic plan promoting Jesuit ideals that the University Planning Team will propose to the Board of Trustees in May.

“It’s important to highlight the difference between service and service learning. At Tulane they require service. It’s independently done by the student, with not a whole lot of regulation on top of it,” Cypriano said.

Service learning is volunteer work directed by the academic curriculum within the student’s major, and the service being provided and experienced by the student becomes part of the learning process, said Cypriano.

“Once students get to experience the positive consequences of a program like this, there will be a higher demand and additional courses will become available,” Cypriano said, citing past examples of similar programs.

Cypriano’s proposal was inspired by a project he put together last semester when he took Loyola’s course Ignatius Loyola with the Rev. Ted Dziak.

Through his research, he synthesized the service-learning programs required by the University of Colorado at Boulder, Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania. Each of the universities have incorporated some volunteer work into their graduation requirements. Cypriano combined what he found to be the most effective components of each program to create a hybrid of academic service learning for Loyola.

Cypriano has been working closely with Dziak, vice president for Mission and Ministry, and Kelly Brotzman, director of service learning, in crafting this plan.

“We are a school that is positioned in a city desperate for charitable acts of service. The possibilities for service learning are endless,” Cypriano said.

“This proposal provides an opportunity for Loyola to utilize New Orleans as an asset instead of a liability, ” Cypriano says. “Obviously the city has demonstrable areas of need, and through service learning we can participate in a way that benefits the undergraduate experience and the community around us.”

Cypriano’s proposal is a three- and six-year project. Under his proposal, in the next three years, every major academic department would offer a course with a service-learning component in their curriculum. In the following six years, students would be required to take at least one of those service-learning classes to fulfill their graduation requirements.           

“Service learning is uniquely tailored opportunities with in a curriculum, that are directed by the academic department so that the service being provided or experienced by the student accentuates the learning process, and is actually part of the curriculum,” Cypriano said.

Examples of these service learning projects range anywhere from community gardens planted by the biology department to policy advocacy from political science majors to English majors tutoring at public schools, Cypriano said.

“Service is a key component of our Jesuit identity – in fact, central to Jesuit education.  Linking service to our academics would bring a holistic and more integrated approach to our education. It brings our community into the classroom and makes our classroom a part of our community,” Dziak said.

SERVICE LEARNING GRANTS WOULD BE AVAILABLE TO PROFESSORS

Cypriano is also working on a service-learning grant for professors as incentive to stimulate participation in his new proposal for service learning.

“Hopefully it will work as a stepping stone towards the three year goal of every department having at least one service learning course,” said Cypriano.

The department of academic affairs, the department of student affairs, the office of Mission and Ministry and SGA will begin offering grants tentatively at the end of February to provide the start up cost to cover a program that meets their stipulations of the type of service learning they want to do, Cypriano said.

A representative from each of the financially contributing parties of the grant, and Kelly Brotzman will regulate distribution of the grants — making sure that each project adheres to the direction the university is headed.

“Once the grant is set up, any professor can say ‘I have this in mind for a program.’ Once they get the approval of the chair of their department and their dean, they can apply for the money,” he said.

Stephanie Pawlik can be reached at [email protected].