Center for Community Engagement & Service

Are you interested in hosting student volunteers? Approximately 70% of PLU’s 3,400 students volunteer while they are at PLU. Campus-wide programs, student clubs and campus partners promote volunteering across the campus. Please utilize our Career Connections Opportunities Board to post opportunities that you would like to make available to students, staff, faculty or PLU Alumni. Please note that all volunteer sites must be a registered employer in the State of Washington and are required to provide proof of insurance upon request.

If you have questions about how to create a Career Connections Opportunities Board account, please download the Volunteer Opportunities Board Guide or email service@plu.edu.

Are you interested in connecting concerns and opportunities of your organization or program with courses taught by engaged faculty throughout the university? Please contact Joel Zylstra at zylstra@plu.edu or (253)535-7652 to consider how your organization or program may align with courses through PLU’s 86 academic programs.

Academic Service-Learning criteria:

• In-class student learning enhances service experience and service experience enhances in-class learning
• Careful planning between faculty and community partners
• Prepare students to engage community partners; prepare community partners to engage students
• Includes a structured reflection component that ties service to learning experience
• Students are assessed on learning that takes place in service site

Note: Academic Service-Learning is not simply adding volunteering to the course syllabus.

Are you interested in hosting a student to participate in an academic internship? Please visit PLU’s Academic Internships website at: http://www.plu.edu/intern/home.php or contact Maxine Herbert Hill at herberam@plu.edu or (253)535-7324.

What is the difference between academic service-learning and academic internships?

Academic Internships:

An Academic Internship is a professionally related work experience that links a student’s academic program with their desired professional field. It is sponsored and overseen by a faculty member and is supervised and mentored at the workplace by a career professional. Students establish goals for the internship that are approved by faculty and are accepted and registered for academic credit. Students establish specific methods that track and report the achievement of their goals. Students are expected to learn about professional expectations among other goals of the internship experience.

Academic Service-Learning:

Through academic service-learning, the community becomes an integral “text” of a course where students connect theoretical concepts with practical strategies and implementation. Academic service-learning courses reside at the intersection of three areas: 1) Rigorous student learning in a specific discipline that includes critical reflection; 2) Active community engagement that promotes positive social change; and 3) Meaningful preparation for a lifetime of citizenship.

Are you looking for part-time student employees. Many PLU students are eligible for the Washington State Work Study Program. Through this program, employers are partially reimbursed (Non-profit 70% reimbursement; Government 60% reimbursement; For-Profit 40% reimbursement) toward compensating PLU student employees that are eligible for the program. The position and worksite must represent opportunities for student learning and growth and align with PLU’s mission.

To learn more about the State Work Study program, visit www.wsac.wa.gov/employers or contact Tommy Skaggs,  PLU’s coordinator for Student Employment at: skaggsts@plu.edu or (253)535-8786.