A new Service Learning Faculty Grant Program has been established at UNH. It provides grants to faculty for release time so that they may develop new courses or mentor others in service learning courses next semester. Faculty also may use funs for direct expenses associated with an existing service learning course.

Funded by the Office of Academic Affairs, grant awards will be in the range of $3,000 to $6,000. Deadline to apply is Friday, October 27.

Service learning is a process that actively engages students in community-based problem-solving as an integral component of the academic curriculum, according to Mark Rubinstein, vice provost for enrollment planning. "This approach to education provides an important enhancement to classroom experience and research by allowing students to identify problems and develop and implement solutions that work in the world around them," he says.

The program will provide opportunities for faculty from across the University to become better acquainted with the service learning concept and to assess its potential for application in their own teaching. This will be accomplished through direct observation, informal "brown bag" luncheons, and a year-end symposium on service learning.

Grant recipients also will participate in collaborative workshops in conjunction with the UNH Partnership for Social Action.

It is open to all full-time tenure track faculty at UNH in Durham as well as Manchester. Participation requires endorsement of the proposal by the appropriate department chair and dean.

For more information about the program or applications, contact Rubinstein at 862-4979 or via e-mail at mark.rubinstein@unh.edu.

Faculty Name:

Email:

Department: _____________________________Office Address:______________

College or School:

Phone Number:

Fax Number:

If this application is to support development of a service learning course, please attach a brief outline of the proposed course that responds to the following points:

• your interest in developing a service-learning course;
• a description of the course you propose to develop or modify (can be a copy of the existing syllabus if this is an existing course to be modified);
• how you plan to integrate service into the course; and
• relevant information pertaining to prior use of service learning.

If this application is to support an existing service learning course, please attach a brief outline that responds to the following points:

• a description of the course (or a copy of the syllabus) that clearly outlines the service learning component;
• a brief statement regarding the history of the specific service learning course (e.g., students served, agency or community contact, problem(s) addressed, and learner outcomes); and
• a budget proposal that outlines projected expenses for the course. (If the expenses outlined for the course to be offered in Spring 2001 reflect expenses incurred in prior semesters, please explain how past expenses were covered.)

Faculty Signature:

Date:

Department Chair

Date

Dean_______________________________________________________Date____________

Please return application to Mark Rubinstein, 207 Thompson Hall by October 27, 2000.