INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
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INNOVATOR<br />
Tulane University Center<br />
for Public Service<br />
Key innovation: a chance for students to earn course<br />
credit through volunteer work in the city<br />
Biggest beneficiaries: Hispanic Apostolate, Sophie B.<br />
Wright School<br />
Where they’re based: <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Top executive: Vincent Ilustre, executive director<br />
Year introduced: 2006<br />
AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA, the city’s need for volunteer<br />
help was massive. To meet that demand, Tulane<br />
University instituted a public service requirement for its<br />
students and founded the Center for Public Service to provide<br />
support services for faculty, students and community<br />
partners.<br />
Executive Director Vincent Ilustre said about 100<br />
courses each semester feature a service learning component.<br />
Between 1,500 and 2,000 students each semester<br />
participate in the program, each donating 20 to 40 hours of<br />
service.<br />
“It allows students to learn by doing,” Ilustre said.<br />
“They can see theories in action.”<br />
The community partners who work with Tulane on the<br />
project receive the assistance they need. For example, students<br />
taking an educational psychology course will get<br />
hands-on experience tutoring students at area schools.<br />
Students in biomedical engineering courses design adaptive<br />
medical devices for injured people.<br />
“The activity has to match closely with the objectives of<br />
the course,” Ilustre said.<br />
The opportunities are not limited to Tulane students.<br />
Tulane offers a Semester in NOLA program to students<br />
from other universities, who can stay in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> for<br />
five weeks during the summer to participate in internships<br />
and attend panel presentations.<br />
“We wanted to frame their activities so they have a little<br />
more background on the things they’re doing and why a<br />
topic is framed a certain way in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>,” Ilustre said.<br />
The summer program was founded in part to further<br />
help the city recover and pay a debt Tulane felt it owed<br />
other universities around the country.<br />
“We had all these universities take in our students<br />
(after Katrina). We wanted to return the hospitality,”<br />
Ilustre said.<br />
Like any hands-on project, the knowledge students gain<br />
is not limited to the realm of academia.<br />
“Having heard many stories from <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>’ working<br />
class has helped me understand the universal nature of<br />
human experience: no matter what race, education or<br />
social status a person has, all people fundamentally have<br />
the same concerns and desires,” said service learning program<br />
student Ross Kelley.•<br />
— Fritz Esker<br />
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI<br />
Vincent Ilustre, executive director of the Tulane University Center for Public Service, maps where Tulane students have fulfilled their public service requirement to graduate.<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> <strong>City</strong><strong>Business</strong> 33A