Nov 24, 2009 | 02:20
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Oct 30, 2008
New Astin Scholars Program honors faculty couple's legacy in civic engagement
A pair of UCLA scholars much-admired for their groundbreaking research on the transformational effect community involvement has on the lives of college students have been honored with a new scholarship to take student involvement to a higher level.
The Helen and Alexander Astin Civic Engagement Scholars Program, created by the Office of the Chancellor in partnership with Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Judith Smith, recognizes Higher Education professors emeritus Helen Astin and her husband, Alexander Astin, for their scholarship and legacy in the area of civic engagement. Helen Astin is a psychologist and senior scholar at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), and Alexander Astin is HERI founding director and the Allan M. Cartter Professor Emeritus of Higher Education.
The new scholarship was announced during a “Celebration of Civic Engagement at UCLA” luncheon on Oct. 23. The Astins, Chancellor Gene Block, other campus administrators and nearly 100 faculty, staff and students filled a conference room in Royce Hall for the event.
Starting in spring 2009, students in their junior year may apply for a scholarship to support a year of volunteering in community programs while engaging in scholarly research in advancing social justice and other goals. The Center for Community Learning will coordinate the scholarship review and approval process through its Faculty Advisory Committee.
Numerous studies by the Astins have found that when students participate in community service, their academic performance improves, their leadership skills are enhanced and they are more apt to participate in service after graduation.
“Service learning is not just an extracurricular activity,” said Alexander Astin. From helping students develop a greater sense of racial equity to finding a sense of meaning and purpose, “it has an enormous impact,” he said.
UCLA students have a strong service ethic, said Chancellor Block. “More than half of our undergraduates participate in volunteer activities or community service,” many of them in service-learning projects offered through the Center for Community Learning, the undergraduate curricular arm of the chancellor’s UCLA in LA initiative.
“Once they see that they can make a difference,” Block added, “community service becomes a part of them.”
Scholarship recipients, who will become “Astin Civic Engagement Scholars,” will receive $1,000 to $5,000, depending on need and merit. Plans are for five initial awards, with ambitions to grow the program to more than 100 scholarships each year, similar to the vice provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.
“The Helen and Alexander Astin Civic Engagement Scholars Program puts scholarship in communities on par with other types of research at UCLA,” said Chancellor Block. “It is fitting that it is named for the Astins, who have a great legacy as innovators in higher education.”
Students in every academic major – from humanities to engineering – will be able to engage in community involvement over the course of a full academic year, rather than for the more typical one or two quarters, said Kathy O’Byrne, director of the Center for Community Learning. Participants will also work one-on-one with faculty mentors and will share their research findings with a larger audience both on and off campus.
“Although there’s great value in volunteering in community service, moving it into the teaching and research mission of the university is going to make it even more powerful,” O’Byrne said. “There’s no other program like this in the country that we know of. It will bring students into a whole new world.”
Starting in spring 2009, students in their junior year may apply for a scholarship to support a year of volunteering in community programs while engaging in scholarly research in advancing social justice and other goals. The Center for Community Learning will coordinate the scholarship review and approval process through its Faculty Advisory Committee. Numerous studies by the Astins have found that when students participate in community service, their academic performance improves, their leadership skills are enhanced and they are more apt to participate in service after graduation.
“Service learning is not just an extracurricular activity,” said Alexander Astin. From helping students develop a greater sense of racial equity to finding a sense of meaning and purpose, “it has an enormous impact,” he said.
UCLA students have a strong service ethic, said Chancellor Block. “More than half of our undergraduates participate in volunteer activities or community service,” many of them in service-learning projects offered through the Center for Community Learning, the undergraduate curricular arm of the chancellor’s UCLA in LA initiative.
“Once they see that they can make a difference,” Block added, “community service becomes a part of them.”
Scholarship recipients, who will become “Astin Civic Engagement Scholars,” will receive $1,000 to $5,000, depending on need and merit. Plans are for five initial awards, with ambitions to grow the program to more than 100 scholarships each year, similar to the vice provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.
“The Helen and Alexander Astin Civic Engagement Scholars Program puts scholarship in communities on par with other types of research at UCLA,” said Chancellor Block. “It is fitting that it is named for the Astins, who have a great legacy as innovators in higher education.”
Students in every academic major – from humanities to engineering – will be able to engage in community involvement over the course of a full academic year, rather than for the more typical one or two quarters, said Kathy O’Byrne, director of the Center for Community Learning. Participants will also work one-on-one with faculty mentors and will share their research findings with a larger audience both on and off campus.
“Although there’s great value in volunteering in community service, moving it into the teaching and research mission of the university is going to make it even more powerful,” O’Byrne said. “There’s no other program like this in the country that we know of. It will bring students into a whole new world.”
