Navigating the Institutional and Pedagogical Challenges of the Service-Learning Leadership Minor at CSU Monterey Bay

Abstract

Despite solid foundations for service-learning at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), the economic context of higher education in California, and in particular the CSU system, has created significant challenges for service-learning practitioners. This article provides an overview of the institutional foundations in place at CSUMB that have allowed for an extensive service-learning program, discusses mentoring as a pedagogical and ethical necessity that is threatened by the system’s financial crisis, and concludes with thoughts about the value of a cohort model to alleviate mentoring challenges and the role of service-learning practitioners institutionally in the current economic and political context of higher education.