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The Center for Community-Based
Learning was established to address community needs
and advance the civic and professional development of students.
Growing from the resources and partnerships established by the Cooperative
Education and Service Learning programs, the Center envisions an
engaged campus where learning and research are grounded in human
needs and experience.
The Center serves as a catalyst for community engagement, providing experiential education programs, facilitating interdisciplinary projects, highlighting campus-community achievements and encouraging institutional change to support the scholarship of engagement. The Center provides web-based resources, campus workshops and training materials.
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Center
for Community-Based Learning |
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MSU’s Service-Learning
Program was officially launched in the spring of 1996 as part of
the University’s broader commitment to experiential education.
The programs ongoing mission is to foster the development of informed
and involved citizens through the integration of service to the
community with academic coursework. Through service-learning, MSU
is pushing itself beyond giving students workplace experience to
educating them for citizenship.
Service-Learning faculty and staff agree that the best model for addressing
community issues is to orient the service-learning projects around issues
rather than disciplines, and encouraging a collaborative strategy to education.
This interdisciplinary, issue oriented approach enables faculty and students
to address the complex nature of community problems, and to provide community
organizations with service that is responsive to their needs. Current
service priorities include: literacy; service to older adults; the digital
divide; substance abuse prevention; at-risk youth; and peer mentoring.
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Service-Learning
Program |
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Cooperative Education
is a university-wide work-based learning program. Partnerships
with businesses and non-profit organizations are created to assist
students in exploring how classroom learning applies to work-place
practices. Since its inception, more than 700 businesses and non
profit organizations have partnered with MSU to advance the education
of 14,000 MSU alumni.
Both full and part-time, paid and stipend co-op and internship positions are available to students. These positions meet co-op work-learning criteria and are arranged for a minimum of one semester. Screening criteria for the positions are determined by the employer and students meeting these criteria are referred for interviews using a web-based interface giving our students and employers 24/7 access. Hiring decisions are made solely by the employer. Interested students must apply at least one semester prior to enrollment in an academic course especially designed to foster reflective thinking and learning from experience.
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Cooperative
Education Program |
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