SU-310: Service to Humanity

Sed Vitae. This course is a Service Learning course, and it is designed to foster an inter-disciplinary conversation around humanitarian efforts seen throughout the world—both at international and local levels. Service Learning is “a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development” (Jacoby, Service-Learning in Higher Education, 1996). Pursuant of this, students each week will be asked, on the one hand, to read selections from various historiographic, philosophical, artistic, or theological engagements with humanitarian work and then analyze their arguments critically. On the other, students will be required to serve a total of 42 hours outside of the classroom over the course of its 16-week semester (approx. 4-hrs per week). Pre-approved service opportunities at Carroll College or in the broader Helena area will be made available for signup on the first day of class (additional opportunities can be approved at the instructor’s discretion). Once students have begun their service hours, they will be expected to submit weekly journal entries that reflect on their experiences (being respectful of any of their organization’s policies related to privacy and confidentiality), and they will need to come to class (a 1.5hr seminar held once a week) prepared to put those experiences in dialogue with the class’s assigned readings.