Front Page | Service-Learning

Our Mission: Connecting Academic Curriculum to Collaboration with Communities

Duke Service-Learning connects academic curriculum to communities to foster enriched learning and engagement in ethical collaborations. We provide consultation, training, research, and advocacy for the work of faculty, staff, students, and communities to support academic programming that joins communities in promoting social equity and social change.

Service-learning courses build a strong academic foundation by incorporating collaborations with local community partners and translating theory into real-world experience. By exploring the rich diversity of our local and global communities, service-learning courses provide students with opportunities to engage effectively with communities on issues such as the environment, socioeconomic inequities, public policy, health, immigration, education, and more.

What is Service-Learning?

For Faculty

A primary goal of Duke Service-Learning is to provide support and assistance to departments, programs, and individual faculty members seeking to integrate service-learning and community engagement into their academic objectives. We offer customized resources, classroom presentations, course funding, service-learning assistants, suggest potential community partners, help you develop assignments and assessment protocols, and provide feedback on your syllabus as requested.

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For Students

Courses can feel far removed from the world outside Duke and life after college, but service-learning courses allow you to apply and gain academic knowledge in an authentic setting. With courses in dozens of departments, from Education and Public Policy to Engineering and Computer Science, you’ll find a course that fits your interests, while also providing you with an opportunity to:

Get to know Durham (Beyond Downtown)
Make a positive difference in the community
Apply what you're learning in the classroom to contemporary issues
Develop a wide range of skills, from cross-cultural awareness to critical thinking, problem solving, and leadership skills.