Service-learning projects -- where students assist community organizations and agencies for academic credit -- are becoming more common at St. Lawrence, and have sprung up in departments and programs across the curriculum. Professor of Government C. Fred Exoo, director of service learning, reports that 10 new courses are offering this experiential learning opportunity, in addition to the non-departmental, independent study course that has been offered for several years. Among them: Students in Assistant Professor of Modern Languages Marina Llorente's Advanced Spanish class have served as tutors in nearby correctional facilities, assisting teachers in English as Second Language classes. Director of the Writing Center Rebecca Bliss offers a class in Expository Writing, and students in the class have offered time as tutors to teenagers at girls' and boys' homes run by the St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services. Students in Assistant Professor of Speech and Theatre Linda Baughman's class in Communication Technology have helped local not-for-profit agencies design Web sites. In Assistant Professor of Global Studies Kathryn Poethig's Intercultural Studies course, half of the students learn more about how some local elderly people live by delivering Meals on Wheels for the St. Lawrence County Office for the Aging; others tutor inmates at local correctional facilities. Other courses are in development, in departments including environmental studies, history, economics and sociology, as well as the First-Year Program. In the fall 2001 semester, over 100 students were enrolled in courses that had some service-learning component, according to Exoo. Close Window to Return to Netnews