Opportunities for Faculty & Staff
Faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome and encouraged to get involved with the Community Service Center.
Chaperone an Alternative Service Breaks (ASB) experience.
Join a group of 9-13 students for a week service, education, reflection, and fellowship during the week of spring break or the last week of winter intersession. Faculty and staff chaperone’s manage the budget in solidarity with two student coordinators, and otherwise immerse themselves and participate fully as a member of the trip. Chaperoning an ASB experience is a great way to engage in service and cultural exchange with a new community and connect meaningfully with a group of amazing students.
Collaborate with the CSC on a project or program.
Throughout the year, student leaders in the Community Service Center develop and plan a number of events in collaboration with other student groups and our community partner organizations, including World AIDS Day commemoration, Public Health Awareness Week, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service projects, Global Days of Service, and holiday gift and food drives. To collaborate with the CSC on a social justice program, collection drive, or education event, contact our Community Relations Manager.
Develop engagement or service learning opportunities.
CSC staff members are happy to help you develop engagement or service learning opportunities for your student groups or courses, and we are also able and willing to speak to students in related courses. We have a number of great resources compiled to help develop syllabi and learning plans with service components, and can direct you to a limited number of community partner organizations that may have the capacity to support service learners. Contact Orpheo Speer, CSC Director, for more information.
Participate in Global Days of Service.
Each April, the CSC and the Office of Development and Alumni Relations partner to present Global Days of Service, a monthlong celebration of social justice and civic engagement. Faculty and staff are welcome to join any of our programs in Greater Boston or beyond. Our Global Days of Service site will be updated each spring with more information on getting involved as a project volunteer or supporting a project with educational context.
Volunteer with a CSC program.
All members of the Boston University are welcome to join our regular programs. Volunteer alongside students at phenomenal community partners throughout Greater Boston on a weekly basis, addressing critical concerns in education and youth development, hunger and food justice, public health, and more. Check out our program pages above for more information and program manager contact links.
Support the CSC.
The generosity of faculty and staff allows us to continue to grow and develop meaningful education, reflection, and service programs for our community. Faculty and staff are welcome to contribute in two ways, and every dollar donated goes directly to the implementation of our student-initiated programs:
- Make a pledge through the United Way Employee Giving campaign to make pre-tax donations from your payroll on a monthly basis. This program is initiated each November.
- Make a one time donation directly to our programs. Select “Community Service Center Fund” before submitting.
Key things to consider as you develop service opportunities for students:
Before reaching out to Community Service Center staff to collaborate or program, we ask you to consider the following:
- Days of Service and service learning can often be more work for our community partners than they receive from us in return. Choosing a community partner organization with the capacity to host large groups and with an existing infrastructure for one-time service opportunities is key to getting a high quality service experience for our students and not placing an undue burden on a community partner.
- Education and reflection are as important to the experience as direct service. Providing a pre-service context session and a post-service reflection opportunity for volunteers enriches the experience and helps students imbue the service with bigger picture meaning and learning.
- Education activities may include: An article/video/audio share, a guest speaker or panel, a simple research task, or a facilitated discussion.
- Reflection activities may include: A read-around, a guided discussion, a journal entry, a crowd-sourced art piece, or blog compilation.
- Having a framework ready for the service experience is key to success. Before seeking a service opportunity, we should have all our necessary data ready to prevent wild swings in numbers or timing, or cancellations due to preventable obstacles.
- Approximately how many volunteers will you need space for? (Call and update a few days before)
- What is your schedule, both day and time?
- Don’t forget to include transit time in either direction
- Most organizations cannot host on weekends in the fall, and without notice of at least 2-3 months.
- September and October are generally off limits, as community partners are recovering from pre-orientation service programs.
- April is also challenging as the CSC and Development and Alumni Relations host Global Days of Service at that time. Due to the nature of this initiative, we cannot guarantee sites for groups by affiliation.
- What is your preferred method of transit? Have you factored this into a budget? (Walking, BU Shuttle, T, Van, Charter Bus, etc…)
- Will you be able to provide meals or snacks to volunteers? (Necessary if considering an all-day experience, or an experience that will leave before breakfast, in particular.)
- Do you have any special requests or needs for your group? (Accessibility, dietary, allergy, etc…)