Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 2/19/99
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   22

SLU HOSTS SEMINAR ON SERVICE LEARNING
     HAMMOND -- A national expert on service-learning will be the featured speaker at a
day-long seminar at Southeastern Louisiana University on February 26.
     The seminar, "Service-Learning Across the Disciplines," is sponsored by the
Southeastern College of Arts and Sciences' Connections Program, Center for Faculty Excellence
and School-to-Work Initiative. Scheduled to begin with a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in the
War Memorial Student Union, the day-long series of workshops is free and is open to area
Southeastern faculty, area educators and interested community members, Connections Director
Michael Greene said.
     The featured speaker is Edward Zlotkowski, professor of English at Bentley College and
senior associate at the American Association of Higher Education. Zlotkowski founded the
Bentley Service-Learning Project in 1990, an institution-wide program that involves a quarter of
the faculty and several thousand students in all of Bentley's undergraduate academic
departments. He has served as a consultant on community service-learning to colleges and
universities across the country.
     Zlotkowski will speak on "Introduction to Community Service-Learning" from 9-11 a.m.
in Student Union room 213.
     Through service-learning programs, students receive credit for participating in course-
related activities that both benefit their community and expand their education, Greene said.
"Community service-learning offers an opportunity to involve students in hands-on projects
which meet actual community needs and are tightly integrated with academic course work," he
said. "Students learn to work in groups, communicate and solve problems. They develop a sense
of caring, responsibility and involvement with their employers, their community and the world at
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SERVICE-LEARNING SEMINAR   Add One
 large."
     Greene said the seminar will explain community service-learning, how it affects students'
learning; how it can be incorporated into teaching, and how teachers can ensure that their
service-
learning courses remains academically rigorous.
     Following an informal lunch, the seminar will continue with a syllabus conversion
workshop and a variety of concurrent resource sharing session with guests including C. Eddie
Palmer, dean of community service at the University of Southwestern Louisiana; Bobbie Dix-
Shaffett, coordinator of PLUS (Program of Learning thrU Service) at Louisiana State University,
and LSU English professor Jan Shoemaker.
     A collaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education,
Connections' goal is to help provide a stimulating and exciting interdisciplinary learning
experience for all students -- pre-kindergarten through college --  and to help develop innovative
techniques for achieving the goal. 
     "Connections is dedicated to providing the finest resources for service-learning
practitioners and others interested in service-learning as a method of enhancing student
understanding," Greene said.
     For information about the service-learning seminar, contact Greene at 504-549-3600,
mgreene@selu.edu. Additional information is also available on the World Wide Web at
www.selu.edu/Academics/ArtsSciences/connections/seminars.htm.
                            - SLU -
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