Digital Commons Network^™

Education In Action: Service-Learning Celebrating 10 Years, Julia Van Der Ryn

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The mission of the Service-Learning (SL) Program is to centralize resources and support for faculty, students, partner organizations and the diverse communities they serve to advance education and social justice through shared learning and collaborative action. The SL Program seeks to manifest the Dominican ideals and mission to educate ethical leaders and socially responsible global citizens through the creation of intentional, collaborative, mutually beneficial partnerships and relevant teaching/learning practices. Service-Learning integrates meaningful community engagement with academic curriculum, enriching learning through experience and intentional reflection on the interface between theory and practice.

Voces Del Canal: Building Safe Communities Through Strong Partnerships In The Canal, Julia Van Der Ryn, Jennifer Lucko, Tom Wilson, Omar Carrera, Miho Kim, Reem Assil, Saba Waheed, Jennifer Lee, Diego Garcia, Bill Hogan, Voces Del Canal

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Canal, a vibrant community of Latino immigrant families, is rich in diversity and cultural traditions, strong family networks, and a determination towards economic selfsufficiency. Latino immigrants in Marin County are heavily concentrated in the Canal and have the highest labor force participation rates in the County.i Despite being a vital part of Marin’s social, economic, and cultural society, Canal residents continue to struggle to meet basic necessities for their families.

To this end, a coalition of resident leaders from the community came together to form Voces del Canal to lead an unprecedented community-driven research project. Residents wanted to affirm …

Thinking And Action: Preparing Students To Engage Complexity Within Themselves And In The World, Julia Van Der Ryn

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This essay explores the dynamic tension between the human need to cultivate an autonomous identity and the desire to be part of a larger reality, suggesting that authentic morality emerges from a person’s struggle with the ever-shifting overlap between these two drives. Creating an intersection between thinking and action, service-learning pedagogy draws us into a creative confrontation with these drives, preparing students to engage complexity within themselves and in the world.