ABSTRACT
Building on the work of other leaders in service-learning, this chapter explores practice in the institutionalized, community based learning structures of higher education and focuses on the benefits, challenges, and opportunities to move work toward deeper, transformational learning inherent in campus–community partnerships. According to the 1999 Service-Learning Needs Assessment of UCLA s Service-Learning Clearinghouse Project, 70% of all service-learning centers were housed in academic affairs offices and 30% were placed in student affairs offices. Moreover, some institutions are beginning to rethink the boundaries between student affairs and academic affairs and are attempting to provide more centralized and integrated approaches to campus-community partnerships that cross the divisional divide. The benefit of a centralized structure for community engagement is that service-learning centers and offices, along with their campus neighbors, can serve as an epicenter for campus-community partnerships.
