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FACULTY NEWS
ILR Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior Michael Lounsbury listens in on a lively group
discussion during his Service Learning class.
Inside the Classroom
Service Learning
(ILROB 322/ SOC 323)
by Alicia Smith
Walk by Ives 112 on a Tuesday afternoon
and you will likely see a classroom
filled with students engaged
in a lively discussion about the difference
between a stranger and an outsider, whether
a culture of poverty exists, or the definition
of deviance. These students are part of
Professor Lounsbury’s service learning class:
a course designed to engage undergraduates
in organized service opportunities as
a means of enhancing course content and
promoting civic responsibility. The class is
popular (demand for seats is greater than
supply), and it is clear that students are
excited about this “hands-on” approach to
learning.
As part of the class, students spend two
to four hours per week at a local community
or governmental organization working on a
service-learning field project, while at the
same time learning sociological theory in
the classroom. The list of prospective field
projects is long and diverse and includes
everything from training to become a disaster
responder with the Red Cross Emergency
Services, to preparing health education
workshops at the Ithaca Youth Bureau, to
teaching clients how to use computers at the
downtown Women’s Opportunity Center. The
goal is to provide a reciprocal learning process
where students simultaneously apply
theory to practical situations and develop
a more comprehensive understanding of
theoretical perspectives learned in class by
participating in carefully selected servicelearning
field projects.
An assistant professor in the department
of organizational behavior, Professor
Lounsbury came to the ILR School in 1999.
In his short time with the ILR School, he has
been awarded the Kaplan Faculty Fellowship
in Civic Engagement (2002) and the General
Mills Award for Innovation in Teaching
(2001), demonstrating Cornell’s support of
public service learning.
Lounsbury developed his service learning
course with help from Cornell’s Public Service
Center, an organization founded in 1991 to
provide opportunities for students to participate
in service-learning through volunteering,
work-study or project implementation.
S O U N D B I T E S
“Unions are clearly
in a defensive mode.
Unionized operations have
been hit disproportionately
by layoffs. It is a tough period
right now for labor. ”
— Richard Hurd, professor of industrial
and labor relations and director of labor
studies, commented in a New York Times
article on February 25, 2003, reporting on
the annual meeting of the AFL-CIO.
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