The Community-Engaged Learning Office (CELO) is UVM's home for academic service-learning. Our goal is to help students put their learning into practice on behalf of the many communities connected to UVM.
The University of Vermont has a distinguished history of community-engaged teaching and learning. As the alma mater of John Dewey and in his hometown of Burlington, UVM is deeply invested in this particular high-impact educational practice (Kuh 2008), and has long valued engagement in community and experiential education as key foundations for citizenship. CELO continues this work, maintaining relationships with community partners, and supporting pathways for students to engage in communities throughout their time at UVM and beyond.
CELO trains faculty in the pedagogy and practice of service-learning, helping to provide students with access to over 100 community-engaged learning courses every year across disciplines and in almost every school and college. These courses work in partnership with hundreds of organizations: nonprofits, local government entities, small businesses, community associations, and more. Students in service-learning courses offer technical, logistical, educational, design, and clinical support. In so doing, students prepare for full participation in public life by deploying their academic skills within reciprocal community partnerships that address community-identified priorities.
| 101 service- & civic-learning courses | 60 faculty teaching SL courses | 177 community partners to SL courses |
| 44% of 2020 graduating seniors took at least one SL course | 6 new Faculty Fellows for Community-Engaged Learning | 7 awards for Outstanding Service-Learning |
CELO works to create a community of practice among UVM faculty built on the high-impact practice of community-engaged learning. We designate courses; offer a Faculty Fellows program; and provide many other faculty development opportunities, in-course supports, and other course development resources.
CELO can help students get involved with many different partners, professions, and communities in Burlington and beyond. Whether you have completed one community-engaged learning course or many, there are opportunities to continue connecting your academic skills and interests to real-world experiences with community partners.
If you are interested in parrtnering with a UVM course, here is the place to start. Service-learning is a reciprocal partnership between community organizations, professors and students. Students engage in work that benefits a community organization, while faculty provide a structure for accountability to the project or service that helps students learn from their experience.
