the role of student affairs and services in higher education

Community/Service Learning
Purpose/functions –
• To develop programs in which students learn and develop through didactic
course work and organized service experiences that meet community needs.
• To compliment a student’s classroom learning by offering practical
experiences in which students are able to explore values, career options, and
their leadership potential.
• To provide our communities with students who are willing to address social
issues through volunteerism.
• To provide students an opportunity to understand community social issues.
• To afford students the chance to reflect on community/service learning
experiences so they may relate them to their own personal development.
Typical Activities –
• Marketing opportunities for students to get involved with community service
and volunteer activities.
• Designing service-learning opportunities to match academic programs
through cooperative efforts with the faculty.
• Developing and updating a clearinghouse of all community resources where
students can volunteer.
• Working with officials at volunteer sites to understand college students and
what service learning/volunteering is about from the institutional perspective.
• Training volunteers how to move into a service project focusing on attitude,
work ethic, cross-cultural sensitivity, follow through, liabilities and risks, etc.
• Keeping an accurate record of the number of students who volunteer and in
what capacity they volunteer.
• Organizing a volunteer fair where students, faculty and staff can meet the
various volunteer agencies.
• Conducting studies on the value of community/service learning.
• Advising student organizations whose mission may include volunteerism.
Counseling Services
Purpose/functions –
• To provide counseling and clinical services to students experiencing
psychosociological problems that could be potentially disruptive to their
successful academic, interpersonal, and campus adjustment.
• To assist students in learning new and more effective ways to cope with
stress and disappointment, resolve conflicts, deal with specific problems or
habits, and manage their lives.
• To cooperate with the health service unit to use psychiatric interventions,
e.g., necessary medications and referrals, for seriously distressed students.
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