INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business

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