Community Service Involvement Research Articles

Gauging interest in community service: a retrospective review of admission files.

By considering applicants’ humanitarian interests, medical schooladmission committees play a crucial role in helping medical schoolsfulfill their social contract with the public—the selection of com-petent and caring future physicians. Validly assessing such diversequalities, however, remains problematic. Admission committees useundergraduate grade-point average and Medical College AdmissionTest scores as markers of intelligence and aptitude. Applicants’ hu-manitarianism or altruism is less amenable to valid measurement.Usually, such characteristics are expressed through the applicant’sself-reported participation in community service activities. Becausedetails regarding these experiences are often sketchy, the scope anddepth of an applicant’s community service experience remain dif-ficult to ascertain and quantify. Admission committees rely on com-munity service experience information in selecting applicants whomay have altruistic inclinations. Little is known about the predic-tive capacity of this non-academic performance variable as it relatesto behavior in medical school, or future medical practice.This study addresses three questions related to the use of appli-cants’ community service experience for selection and predictionpurposes by an admission committee. First, using key medicalschool admission file materials, can reviewers reliably assess appli-cants’ experiences with, and orientation toward, community ser-vice? Second, do reviewers use specific aspects of community serviceto determine their overall assessments of community service in-volvement? Third, can these assessments predict students’ voluntaryparticipation in a new first-year service–learning elective?

The Impact of Community Service Involvement on Three Measures of Undergraduate Self-Concept

The central purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of how community service involvement affects the development of undergraduate self-concept. The findings from this study suggest that the quality of service involvement is more important than the amount of service performed by students.

Organizational Behavior at Colleges and Student Outcomes: A New Perspective on College Impact

This study explores the relationship between the types of organizational behavior found at eight private colleges and two student outcomes--humanistic values and community service involvement. The findings from the analysis suggest a grounded theory desc ribing the relationship between organizational behavior and student outcomes.

Service-Learning and Changes in Involvement Preferences Among Undergraduates

This study represents evolving research on service-learning and the ability of the Community Service Involvement Preference Inventory (CSIPI) to measure how students prefer to become involved in community service. The inventory was administered to students enrolled in a service-learning course at the beginning and again and the end of a 10-week term and mean scores were compared for students who completed both. Mean scores were significantly higher on the second administration of the inventory for preferences involving peer groups (Affiliation), increased awareness and understanding of the needs for the individual or community served (Experimentation), and propensity for service to become a lifelong committment (Assimilation). Results suggest the CSIPI may lend itself to advancing empirical arguments for transforming service from an extracurricular activity to a method of pedagogy.

GETTING A MAN OR GETTING AHEAD

In-depth interviews with thirteen white and thirteen black sorority members at two college campuses show that white sororities encourage romantic pairings (“getting a man”) evidenced by their extensive social affairs and formal recognitions for women who achieve relationship milestones, while black sororities focus on careers and community service (“getting ahead”) evidenced by their reliance on sorority alumnae for career networking and by their extensive involvement in community service. The authors argue that the key to understanding the variation lies in the different histories and current structural positions of the groups. For black sororities, historic images of strong, independent black women and the modern reality of black female marriage and poverty rates have shaped the sorority structure. White sororities have emphasized finding a man as a source of support, an orientation at odds both with a modern reality that dictates labor force participation for all women and with members' career aspirations.

Service-Learning and Changes in Involvement Preferences Among Undergraduates

This study represents evolving research on service-learning and the ability of the Community Service Involvement Preference Inventory (CSIPI) to measure how students prefer to become involved in community service. The inventory was administered to students enrolled in a service-learning course at the beginning and again and the end of a 10-week term and mean scores were compared for students who completed both. Mean scores were significantly higher on the second administration of the inventory for preferences involving peer groups (Affiliation), increased awareness and understanding of the needs for the individual or community served (Experimentation), and propensity for service to become a lifelong committment (Assimilation). Results suggest the CSIPI may lend itself to advancing empirical arguments for transforming service from an extracurricular activity to a method of pedagogy.

In the Service of Citizenship

A Study of Student Involvement in Community Service Introduction I learn more through my volunteer work than I ever do in any of my classes at school. Talking to people from diverse backgrounds provides so much insight that people just can't imagine. I study all these different theories in political science and sociology, but until you get a chance to see how the social world influences people's everyday lives, it just doesn't have that much meaning. I have been involved in volunteer work ever since I was in high school, and I'll probably continue to do stuff like Habitat [for Humanity] until I'm old and gray. I get a lot out of working to serve others, and it's a good feeling to know that I have helped someone even if it's in some small way. It helps me to cherish people more and understand what life is all about. The preceding comments are from college students who discussed their involvement in community service and the meaning they derive from such activities. Both of these students give voice to a form of learning that may be termed in that a concern for the social good lies at the heart of the educational experience (Delve, Mintz, & Stewart, 1990). These students are reflective of others described throughout this article who through participation in community service explore their own identities and what it means to contribute to something larger than their individual lives. In recent years, the role of higher education as a source of citizenship preparation has come to the forefront. In this regard, higher education reflects a rising tide of concern for national service and the common good, as programs such as AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, Habitat for Humanity, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters have evoked our most prominent leaders as well as citizens across the country to commit themselves to the service of others. The influence this national movement has had on the academy is most apparent in the growth of organizations such as Campus Compact and Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) whose memberships and influence increased dramatically in the early 1990s (Markus, Howard, & King, 1993). Professional organizations associated with the academic enterprise also have added fuel to the growing concern over social responsibility and citizenship. For example, in 1997 the call for proposals from the American Association for Higher Education Conference on Faculty Roles and Rewards specifically identified an interest in how community service and service learning contribute to a more engaged faculty. The 1996 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Association was organized around the theme of Research for Education in a Democratic Society, and at the 1995 American College Personnel Association Annual Convention, one of the keynote speakers, Dr. Robert Coles, addressed the issue of moral education when he called for greater commitment to service learning and community service. Although it is hard to argue with calls to foster social responsibility among our students, our future leaders, there also is a tremendous need for clarification. With this said, the following key questions offer a guide for addressing some of the confusion revolving around community service: (1) Are community service and service learning interchangeable concepts or are there important differences? (2) What is the role of community service in engaging students as democratic citizens in a culturally diverse society? (3) Are there variations in the structure of service activities which produce different experiences for students? The first question is examined as I explore the relevant literature on community service and service learning. The second and third questions are addressed primarily through discussions of the theoretical perspective, findings, and implications. Thus, the latter two questions form the heart of the theoretical and empirical analysis offered throughout this article. …

In the Service of Citizenship: A Study of Student Involvement in Community Service

In the Service of Citizenship: A Study of Student Involvement in Community Service

School-based community service: a British perspective

The paper presents a brief introduction to school-based volunteering in Britain. It details the history of young people's involvement in voluntary work and community service, and the range of activities — both local and national — that are now being undertaken. The relationship between volunteering and citizenship is also discussed. Finally, the paper indicates the issues that the Special Edition papers raise for school-based community service in Britain.

“Because it Needs to be Done”

M arquette University School o f D entistry re ­ cently com pleted a year o f community service involvement in Wisconsin. T he overall success o f this program is a result o f the excellent co ­ operation between the agencies involved, and the dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment of the dental students, faculty, and many practicing dentists in the state. The first o f these program s was initiated in the summer o f 1970 by the cooperative efforts o f M arquette dental school students, the depart­ m ent o f pedodontics, the members o f the W is­ consin Pedodontic Society, and the Wisconsin State Division o f Dental Health.

LEADERSHIP

Last month i closed with a reference to leadership. The thought running through my mind was that each of us owes something to our specialty—a kind of tribute to those who have gone before us and who gave of themselves to build the specialty of pediatrics. Ordinarily we think of this "debt" being paid off by the scientist in the laboratory and the clinician at the bedside. And, of course, their contributions have been and continue to be tremendous. But, I submit, everyone who is a pediatrician owes something to further the advance of pediatrics. The hallmark of our specialty from its beginning has been involvement in community service. Many pediatricians not only apply the new knowledge of disease prevention, nutrition and child care to the rearing of children in private practice, but by advice and personal service participate in community health projects to extend these new concepts to all children. Not only have these contributions of individual pediatricians aided greatly to establish pediatrics as a specialty, but have helped enormously to give it a privileged place in public opinion. Every practitioner can exercise this kind of leadership in his or her community. This same dedication by many pediatricians has made the Academy a leader among medical organizations. The Academy exemplifies a new kind of medical society—an organization concerned not only with clinical problems but the social needs of patients. The Academy, I believe, was the first medical organization to recognize the value of co-operative relationships with nonmedical groups. One of its first committees was called the Committee for Cooperation with Nonmedical Groups.