ABOUT Service Learning

Service learning allows you to learn while applying your skills to help others through service to the college, the community, or the world. Participating in service learning activities is especially encouraged for those students whose passion is to apply engineering to solve problems.

• CU students who sign a contract with AmeriCorps to complete between 300 and 900 hours of service are eligible to apply for a National Service Trust Education award of between $1,000 and $2,363, depending on terms of service. Eligible types of service include tutoring/mentoring K-12 students, community-based service addressing human needs, community work study positions in a local service agency, and participating in service or service-learning activities. Financial need is not a consideration for this scholarship.
• Colorado Space Grant is a NASA program that offers both research and service opportunities to students. In the area of service, students can help facilitate hands-on science and engineering-focused activities both on and off campus for young students in grades kindergarten through 12. 
• The Earn-Learn Apprenticeship Program supports students engaged in service learning projects throughout the college. Examples of earn-learn assignments include assisting faculty members with teaching courses, developing new courses or new curriculum, and making improvements to a lab or providing expertise to local K-12 schools. 
• Engineering Ambassadors provides many volunteer opportunities that are coordinated through the Dean's Office and Engineering Ambassadors. Examples include leadership positions for college tours, Engineering Sampler, and a variety of recruiting events for prospective students.
• The Engineers Without Borders-CU chapter joins other students from the university who are committed to researching sustainable development by practicing in developing communities around the world. As the first student chapter of a rapidly growing national organization, EWB-CU is committed to setting a good precedent for other chapters and fulfilling the vision of Engineers Without Borders-USA.
• The CU Environmental Center educates, activates, and inspires the campus community to understand and engage in local and global environmental issues. The Environmental Center gives students applied experience in interdisciplinary environmental problem solving and provides direct services to the university community, including the CU Recycling program, the student bus pass program, and the management of the student wind energy purchase.
• The Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement was developed to nurture and encourage ethical and civic education at CU-Boulder, to prepare our students for a lifetime of service to society as thoughtful, ethical and engaged citizens and contribute to the vitality of the many communities we serve from the local level to the global. The IECE currently administers a variety of programs including the Peace Corps Program at CU (see the section on Peace Corps) and the Puksta Scholarship Program, where each scholarship recipient must develop a year long intensive civic engagement project.
• The INVST Community Studies Program develops engaged citizens and leaders who work for the benefit of humanity and the environment. INVST offers a comprehensive two-year Community Leadership Program that develops community leaders who engage in compassionate action as a lifetime commitment, as well as several Community Studies electives and a Youth Council for Public Policy.
• The ITL K-12 Engineering Education Program focuses on teaching hands-on, experiential engineering in local classrooms, augmented by intense academic year and summer “deep dive” engineering experiences for underrepresented youth. Its overarching goal is to ultimately recruit underrepresented students into the engineering college pipeline through weekly classroom delivery of hands-on engineering curricula in grades 4-12, summer enrichment camps for students, and summer professional development workshops to enhance teacher knowledge and comfort with engineering content.
• The Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities educates globally responsible engineering students and professionals who can offer sustainable and appropriate solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities worldwide. Through this program, students can enroll in focused courses as well as participate in research and outreach/service activities.
• Peace Corps volunteers are using their education, skills, and work and volunteer experience to support grass-roots development projects in the areas of education, health and HIV/AIDS, business and IT development, environment and agriculture, and community and youth development. In addition to making a real difference in the lives of others, the benefits of service include paid travel to and from the country of service, living expenses, medical and dental care, forbearance of student loans, graduate school opportunities, extensive language, technical, cross-cultural and health and safety training, and a service completion stipend.
• The University of Colorado Engineering Council is the student government for the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. UCEC acts as the students' voice to the engineering administration and academic departments.
• The Volunteer Resource Center/Alternative Breaks Program was created in 1965 when a handful of motivated CU students saw a need for volunteers in the community. VRC is a student-run center that works to link up interested students with volunteer programs that best fit their individual interests and needs.
• Students who are active in a CU chapter of a professional engineering society also may be considered to have participated in a service learning experience. These societies fulfill a variety of functions, including dispersing student government information, setting up guest speakers, organizing social events, and sponsoring entries in national design and paper competitions. Service in an officer capacity in one of these societies fulfills the service requirement for the Active Learning Award.