Public Service Center conference pairs students with local agencies

The Cornell Public Service Center has announced its first University-Community Partnership Conference to be held Friday, Oct. 30, in 401 Warren Hall on campus.

The conference will involve discussions between Cornell students, staff and faculty involved in service learning and members of Ithaca-area community service agencies that have partnered with Cornell, through the Public Service Center, on work-study and volunteer programs. Organizers say the conference, which was developed as a result of community roundtable discussions, will be an annual event.

More than 125 people from area agencies such as the Ithaca Youth Bureau, the American Red Cross, Cornell Cooperative Extension, SPCA, Displaced Homemakers and On Site Volunteer Services, are expected to join the discussions on the conference's major themes: "Service Learning Partnerships" and "Issues in Student Volunteer Management."

The purpose of service learning is to connect Cornell students' course work with actual community service involvement at local agencies, thereby enriching the students' academic experience and advancing the agencies' goals. With one-third of Cornell's student population involved in service-learning activities and 25 courses with a community-service component, the conference will be central in developing roles and procedures and a reasonable evaluation system for service-learning partnerships. Agency members, students, faculty and staff at the conference also will identify issues in student volunteer management and discuss how to best utilize and develop student volunteers.

The daylong event will serve as a forum for increasing communication between the parties involved in community service and service learning.

The conference will have morning and afternoon sessions, followed by a keynote address by State Assemblyman Marty Luster.

For more information on the University-Community Partnership Conference, contact Renee Farkas at the Public Service Center, 255-1148.