Overview Washington and Lee University's Shepherd Poverty Program involves its students, faculty, and alumni in study and service to address poverty as a persistent obstacle to individual and community development. Undergraduate and law students take academic courses and participate in service-learning projects. Faculty from many disciplines participate in teaching Shepherd courses, in student-faculty seminars presented by visitors to the campus, and in volunteer work in the local community.
Alumni advise the program and assist with the students' summer volunteer work.
Students from Spelman, Berea, and Washington and Lee met at this year's Orientation Conference. Undergraduates begin the program with an introductory interdisciplinary study of poverty, which may be complemented by volunteer service in the Lexington-Rockbridge County area. These summer volunteers work with poor people and communities to alleviate and eradicate the effects and causes of poverty. Law students are also eligible for these service-learning opportunities, which are arranged through agencies in rural and urban areas in the United States, in Latin America, or, by special arrangements, in other parts of the world. The summer program is conducted in cooperation with Spelman College in Atlanta , Morehouse College in Atlanta , and Berea College in Kentucky .