Contact: Brian Heinrich, Washington Campus Compact, (360) 650-4147, brian.heinrich@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – Washington Campus Compact (WACC) has released the findings from a first-of-its-kind survey of higher-education faculty across the Western United States regarding their use of service-learning – engaging students in community service activities with intentional academic goals.

The survey’s results show the top three community issues addressed through the service-learning classes of these faculty are education/literacy, cultural awareness, and the environment. Participating in the survey were Campus Compact offices from throughout the Western Region, including the California, Colorado, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, Oregon, Utah, and Washington offices.

At Western Washington University, 96 percent of faculty that incorporate service-learning into their courses intend to keep using it in their teaching; they also experienced an expanded community awareness, improved community relationships, and increased community responsibility by using service-learning to address community relations.

The survey was the first of its kind to collect faculty engagement data across a multi-state region. More than 2,500 faculty members at 47 campuses across California, Colorado, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington were surveyed. The research project was funded by Learn and Serve America Higher Education, a program of the Corporation for National & Community Service and directed by Washington Campus Compact.

“A research effort of this kind hasn’t been done in our region,” said Jennifer Dorr, executive director of Washington Campus Compact, “This research points to the significant impacts that service-learning has on faculty, students, and communities.”

The Faculty Engagement Survey Project collected common data across the Western Region identifying current faculty service-learning and community-based research practices; possible strategies to motivate and support new faculty to do service-learning and/or community-based research; best practices by which to support faculty who already incorporate service-learning and community based research into their work; and the potential impacts of service-learning and community-based research on faculty, students, campuses, and communities. Service-learning engages students in community service activities with intentional academic learning goals and opportunities for critical self-reflection that connect to their academic disciplines. Community-based research involves collaboration between trained researches and community members in the design and implementation of research projects aimed at meeting community-identified needs.

Participating Campus Compacts will be able to use this data to shape strategic directions and programming as well as learn more about how faculty members are involved in service-learning and community-based research; how to support faculty; and how service-learning impacts faculty, students, and community members.

The research team of RaeLyn Axlund, WACC research and assessment director; Christine Cress, Portland State University associate professor; and Tanya Renner, Kapi’olani Community College professor developed the Faculty Engagement Survey as part of a larger community engagement research effort. Future community engagement surveys are planned to assess college students and community partners.

Established in 1992 and hosted at Western Washington University, Washington Campus Compact and its membership of 35 two- and four-year colleges and universities are committed to providing meaningful experiences for students to become active, engaged leaders in their communities, furthering the civic and public purposes of higher education and strengthening communities. WACC is an affiliate state office of Campus Compact, a national organization comprised of more than 1,100 higher education institutions committed to the civic and public purposes of higher education.

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