Landscape of Rural Service Learning, and What It Teaches Us All

Randy Stoecker is a professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a joint appointment in the University of Wisconsin–Extension Center for Community and Economic Development.Nicholas Holton is associate dean emeritus at Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, Michigan.Charles Ganzert is a professor in the Communication and Performance Studies Department at Northern Michigan University, where he teaches media law, audio production, documentary, and media management.

• Contents Introduction: Why Rural Service Learning? by Charles Ganzert, Nicholas Holton, and Randy Stoecker Part 1. Rural Service Learning in Context The Landscape of Rural Service Learning, by Nicholas Holton, Karen McKnight Casey, Cynthia Fletcher, Charles Ganzert, John Hamerlinck, Steven Henness, Pam Proulx-Curry, J. Ashleigh Ross, Heidi A. Stevenson, Randy Stoecker, Sophie Tullier, and Spencer D. W Rural Service Learning on the Blue Bus: A Retrospective in Hopes of Advancing Transformative Civic Engagement in Higher Education, by Eva M. Hagenhofer Geographic Disparities in Access to Higher Education Service Learning, by Randy Stoecker and Charity Schmidt Student Voice in Rural Service Learning, by Sophie Tullier Rural Service Learning: Boundary Spanners’ Perspectives, by J. Ashleigh Ross and Randy Stoecker Part 2. Rural Service Learning in Practice Beyond Service Learning: Living Democracy in Rural Alabama, by Blake Evans Food for Thought: A Product-Model Service Learning Experience for Environmental Science Students at a Rural Campus of the University of Wisconsin Colleges, by Lauren Wentz Service Learning and Rural Development in West Virginia: A Community Center Approach, by Chris Baker and Corey Dolgon Naadamaage Kinomaagewin: Service Learning in Native American Studies, by Martin Reinhardt Rural Service Learning as Participatory Action Research: Lessons from Central Pennsylvania, by Brandn Green, Heather Feldhaus, Ben Marsh, and Carl Milofsky Targeted Student Engagement in Rural Communities: Pairing Select Students with Community Organizations to Link Service Learning and Community-Based Research, by M. Beth White and Spencer D. Wood Using a Group Community-Based Research Project in the Introductory Sociology Class as an Exercise in Public Sociology, by Shelley L. Koch Striving for Academic Service Learning Success in a Rural K–12 Tribal School, by Judith Puncochar Our Work in Progress: Service Learning and Rural Communities Partnering in a College-Ready Writers Program, by Marisa Sandoval Lamb and Flora Ann Simon Part 3. Rural Service Learning Looking Forward Service Learning in the Rural Community College, by Nicholas Holton Reasonable Care: Risk and Liability in Service Learning, by Charles Ganzert Organic and Dynamic: How Systems Theories Can Inform Rural Service Learning Practice, by Heidi A. Stevenson Conclusion: Rural Service Learning as Innovation in the Hinterland, by Charles Ganzert, Nicholas Holton, Randy Stoecker, Karen McKnight Casey, Cynthia Fletcher, John Hamerlinck, Steven Henness, Pam Proulx-Curry, J. Ashleigh Ross, Heidi A. Stevenson, Sophi About the Contributors

This text is a critical missing piece in the development of service learning for colleges and universities. Rural service learning has always had its unique challenges and opportunities, and it’s a pleasure to see it illuminated so well.—Amy Smitter, Chief Operating Officer, Habitat for Humanity of Michigan