“What Button Do I Press?” the Consequences of Conducting a Service Learning Project with Senior Citizens

Abstract

In an effort to build interest in the two-year old service learning center and to fulfill its mission “to integrate academic life with service in thoughtful and relevant ways,” a competition was held to award developmental grants to faculty to create innovative courses incorporating service learning. The winning proposal from the business school used a business ethics course as the vehicle for formally introducing service into the business curriculum. This paper will tell the story of the intended and unintended consequences of building collaboration on several levels: between generations, between college and community, between faculty and college resources, between student teams, and between theory and practice.