Affirming central goals of the College, the Underwood Stryker Institute
engages students, faculty, and community members in sustained partnerships that
foster collaborative learning and civic participation in a diverse, democratic
society. By forging a link between service and learning, the Institute works to
strengthen our communities, invigorate the educational experience, and promote
students’ informed and ethical engagement to build a more just, equitable and
sustainable world.
Mission Statement (2001)
We collaborate with our constituencies
on and off campus so that students learn from and with “our richly diverse and
increasingly complex worlds.” By addressing community-identified issues such as
educational equity, health, food justice, sustainability, women’s and girls’
empowerment, juvenile justice, community arts, and neighborhood development, students critically analyze and solve
public problems collaboratively; engage
with the cultural, ethnic, racial and economic diversity of our city; draw upon, integrate and apply multidisciplinary knowledge,
including experiences abroad; and acquire the skills, outlook, and ethical grounding
to live as curious and responsible global citizens, lifelong learners, and
leaders.
Our programs center authentic
relationships, conceive of “students as colleagues,” encourage cultural humility, and employ a critical service-learning perspective that focuses on social
justice and social change, particularly through the use of structured
reflection, which is a core requirement in all of programs. Over 70% of students participate in
course-based or co-curricular service-learning (or both) during their
careers—about 550 students per year.
