Mission

The Office of Service Learning supports MU and the larger community by:

• Matching students with opportunities that meet their personal and professional goals
• Developing mutually beneficial community partnerships
• Providing support infrastructure and consulting for faculty who want to incorporate service-learning into their courses.

Service-Learning at MU

The Office of Service-Learning was founded in January 1995 to support academically-based community outreach campus-wide, serve as a consulting center for program design and implementation, and provide and maintain partnerships with service agencies and organizations in the state of Missouri.

Service-Learning courses at MU combine academic coursework with relevant and impactful service to the community. The goal of service-learning is simple–what students learn in the classroom is applied in the community to create engaged and effective servers and, conversely, student activities in the community are integrated into the classroom to transform and enrich learning.

Each semester at MU, thousands of students enroll in service-learning courses that connect them to credited service opportunities in the local community. Through service to others, students learn valuable lessons in citizenship and are able to apply their classroom knowledge to real-life situations. Through service-learning, students meet real needs in the community while developing important personal and professional skills.

Taking on service-learning students means that student volunteers will be held accountable to not only their agency, but to our office, faculty members and the University as a whole. We not only prepare students for the professionalism and responsibility that comes with service-learning, but we offer support throughout the year to make sure students follow through on their commitments.