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SERVICE LEARNING MOVES INTO STUDY ABROAD PROJECTS
Joint project to take TCC, JMU, ODU students to Dominican Republic

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – (Sept. 16, 2005) – A collaborative project with James Madison University (project lead), Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University has engaged the colleges in a new type of outreach to a foreign country. The project, funded by the American Council on Education for its ACE Internationalization Collaborative members, will draw students from each college in a groundbreaking blend of study abroad and community service.

The new project, Civility and Service Learning in a Global Society: A Joint Service Learning Program in the Dominican Republic, takes international study to a new level, says Jeanne Natali, TCC’s coordinator of international programs. “This joint project facilitates and supports a specialized type of global learning - the desire to serve others - that is usually absent from traditional study abroad programs,” she explains.

Launched with a faculty workshop on Sept. 23 covering Service Learning in a Global Context, the project focuses on outreach to Santiago, Dominican Republic. The group will work with an organization called Oné Respe, which has various projects in education and health and business training where they make soap and candles to sell.TCC, JMU and ODU will work mainly with Haitian immigrants as well as with poor Dominicans.

Project phases include faculty travel to the Dominican Republic, development of a central course with learning outcomes and assessment materials, launch of a service learning project in the Dominican Republic, and a follow-up workshop to highlight trip accomplishments, present assessment results, recruit faculty for subsequent programs and enlist new faculty.

ACE Internationalization Collaborative, a learning community of64 institutions, provides a forum for faculty and administrators to share ideas and help each other in furthering their international agendas. Members share information about institutional strategies and outcomes and key issues that need further research and advocacy.

Tidewater Community College is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, enrolling more than 36,000 students annually. The 37th largest in the nation’s 1,600 community-college network, TCC ranks among the 50 fastest-growing large community colleges. Founded in 1968 as a part of the Virginia Community College System, the college serves the South Hampton Roads region with campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach as well as the TCC Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts Center in the theater district in downtown Norfolk, the Visual Arts Center in Olde Towne Portsmouth and a regional Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach. Forty-four percent of the region’s residents attending a college or university in Virginia last fall were enrolled at TCC. For more information, visit www.tcc.edu