What is Service-Learning?

UC is the birthplace of cooperative education (co-op), so service-learning is a natural fit for us. Service-learning is an experiential learning opportunity that serves the greater community.

Service-learning allows faculty and students to collaborate with nonprofit partners. Those collaborations address some of the most complex issues facing our communities: food insecurity, housing affordability, substance abuse, poverty, health and educational barriers. As an urban-serving, public university, UC is positioned to engage these issues and help our students develop a sense of social responsibility in the process.

Through service-learning, UC students gain practical application of course content, real-world professional experience, course credit, and the opportunity to engage in their community. Community partners gain passionate new volunteers, expanded capacity for their mission, and valuable project work from engaged young leaders. Faculty members gain innovative teaching insights, increased student engagement, and research opportunities.

Possibilities for service-learning projects are endless: direct service, program design and implementation, fundraising, event planning, organizational analysis and research, data collection, content creation, marketing, client relations, and more.

Here are three examples of service-learning courses offered at UC:

• In a community-based occupational therapy course, students work with engineers to create and design meaningful adaptations to everyday tools and tasks,creating life-changing accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
• In “Dementia and the Arts,” students from the College Conservatory of Music, the College of Medicine, and UC Health work with music therapists at a local nonprofit. They focus on arts-based facilitation and generate research around music’s impact on cognitive functioning and social/emotional skills. Students work with a care partner and an individual living with a neurodegenerative disease, forming a “quartet” to produce music together.
• In an English course, students develop skills around content creation by partnering with local nonprofits to assess and develop social media campaigns and marketing assets.

We all do!

In the 2024-25 academic year, UC offered 219 service-learning courses. In that same year, 3,741 students were enrolled in service-learning courses.

Number of participating colleges? 10 (Blue Ash, Clermont, CCPS, Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health, CECH, A&S, DAAP, CCM)

Community leaders:

Fill out our contact form to propose a project or connect with UC’s service-learning team.

[pop out] Are you looking for students to perform community service hours outside of a classroom setting? Visit the UC Center For Community Engagement to post volunteer opportunities for your organization. 

Faculty: Faculty interested in service-learning can find more on Bearcats Landing. 

Students: Students interested in service-learning can find more here.