For Immediate Release February 14, 2006

For More Information Contact: Rich Schneider, 317-278-4564 rcschnei@iupui.edu

IUPUI Emerges as Leader in International Service Learning

INDIANAPOLIS - Teams and individuals from 34 colleges and universities will attend a two-day workshop March 1-2, 2006 hosted by IUPUI, titled “Engaging the World: Developing a Campus-Wide Approach to International Service Learning.”

The conference is collaboratively coordinated by the IUPUI Office for International Affairs and Center for Service and Learning with the International Partnership for Service Learning and Leadership, a not-for-profit educational organization that serves students, colleges, universities, and service agencies around the world by fostering programs that link volunteer service to the community and academic study.

IUPUI has been recognized for its service learning program by US News and World Report for several years, and was recently named one of America 's “Colleges with a Conscience” by the Princeton Review and Campus Compact. The upcoming workshop builds on the campus' strong foundation in both service learning and study abroad to explore the emerging field of international service learning. The addition of service learning to a traditional study abroad program has many positive effects, including an increased connection by students to the communities in which they are studying.

The workshop is designed to enable faculty and administrators from across the U.S. to develop campus plans for international service-learning programs. Barbara Holland, director of the National Clearinghouse for Service Learning and IUPUI Senior Scholar, will moderate keynote presentations by Trudy Banta, Vice Chancellor of IUPUI; Humphrey Tonkin, President Emeritus of the University of Hartford; Valerian Three Irons, Director of the South Dakota State University Service-Learning Program and a member of the Pine Ridge Reservation; and Kalyan Ray, Director of the Ghandi Center in Calcutta, India. More information on the workshop is available at http://www.ipsl.org/organization/March06Workshop.html.

Campus teams and individuals will be attending from 34 different institutions as varied as Yale University, the University of California-Berkeley, and Cascadia Community College. Portland State University, Alverno College, Notre Dame, and the University of North Carolina, all of which were recognized by US News and World Reports for excellent service learning or study abroad programs, will also be present.

In recent years, international service learning has emerged as a driving theme in IUPUI's study abroad programs. It is an approach particularly well-suited to IUPUI's many professional school students, and also one that reflects a campus commitment to civic engagement, both at home and abroad.

Engaging the world through education and partnership, the Office of International Affairs supports all international activities at IUPUI, including student recruitment, admissions, and services; visa services for faculty and staff; research and partnerships; International House programming; study abroad; the Global Crossroads; the IU Center for South East Asia; and curriculum internationalization. ###