As a teacher of anthropology and American studies, issues of diversity are critical to the courses that I teach. JEP is an excellent way of connecting theory with practice for the students. Soo-Young Chin, assistant professor of Anthropology. While it is possible to run a service a service learning program with a single staff member who is responsible for educating faculty members about how to integrate service and learning, there is a direct correlation between staff infrastructure and the quality of service and learning that take place. Such undergraduate student workers are a very cost-effective way of bringing quality to service learning programs.
Funding is needed for the staffing described above.
Little is needed in the way of materials and supplies with this type of project. While most programs begin with a match of outside funding and institutional support, it is important that service learning be recognized as an enhancement of the educational efforts of an academic institution and supported as such in much the same way that labs are considered an integral part of a science course. They are a means to help students connect theories and concepts with functioning organizations. This must be done with a great deal of planning and design, with careful thought being given to the relevance of university courses to the world at large. While students come and go, the most successful service learning programs are built with true partnerships between a campus and a specific set of community partners.