Service with Understanding: Fortifying a Short-Term International Service Program

This paper reflects on the experience of transforming a non-academic student affairs led international service activity into an academic program, the Global Service and Research (GSR) two-course sequence and service-learning program at UC San Diego’s Eleanor Roosevelt College. Although housed in a university, the original model lacked a critical academic component which could sufficiently provide the cultural and historical context for the student experience as well as address preconceptions or misconceptions about the purpose of such service work.   GSR was born in academic year 2011-2012 to combine such faculty expertise with the experiential learning of the existing on-site service.   In AY2012-2013 GSR was focused on Istanbul, Turkey where GSR students volunteered with a minority religious community and with children with disabilities. This paper will address the development and implementation of the program, challenges (including cost), and the impact on students.  In the UCSD model, students applied to be part of GSR in fall term and selectees participated in group activities and fundraising.   In winter quarter, GSR students enrolled in the faculty-led two-credit preparatory seminar which introduced topics relevant to Istanbul and to service-work matters.  Students participated in the service project in Istanbul over spring break, with both a student affair staff and the course professor on-site, and then took a 2-credit research course in spring. Students can apply the 4-credit sequence toward fulfillment of a general education requirement and they were offered the opportunity to submit their completed project for publication in the university’s undergraduate research publication.