UL System Launches New Online Journal for Service-Learning

BATON ROUGE – The University of Louisiana System announces the launch of the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education (JSLHE), a subscription-free online publication to encourage academic research about service-learning.  This international, peer-reviewed journal, which can be accessed at www.ulsystem.edu/JSLHE, has just issued a call for manuscripts for the Spring 2012 publication of its inaugural issue.

“Many people confuse service-learning with volunteerism, but in reality there is a strong academic component involved with service-learning.  College and university students are taking what they learn in the classroom and applying it in real-world situations while volunteering in their communities.  This new journal is a way for practitioners to share successful methodologies and pedagogical approaches not just in our system but throughout academia,” said UL System President Randy Moffett.

JSLHE is an outgrowth of collaboration between all universities in the University of Louisiana System and managed by the UL System’s Service-Learning Council.  David Yarbrough, Associate Professor of Child and Family Studies and Dean of Community Service at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, serves as the journal’s Executive Editor.

“Faculty productivity is measured in three ways:  contributions to the knowledge of our students through teaching, contributions to the general knowledgebase through research, and contributions directly to the community through service.  This journal brings all three together, creating a research outlet for supporting excellence in teaching through service,” said Yarbrough.

Four section editors have been appointed to assist Yarbrough.  They are Morris Coats, Professor of Economics at Nicholls State University; Steven Gruesbeck, Instructor of Psychology and Director of Service-Learning at Northwestern State University; Sandra Hill, Head of the Department of English at the University of Louisiana at Monroe; and Jackie Tisdell, Assistant Vice President of Communications at the University of Louisiana System.

Members of the JSLHE Review Board are diverse in academic disciplines and institutional representation.  They are:

• Rory Bedford, Director of Service-Learning at Grambling State University;
• Dr. Michael Buckles, Head of the Department of Performing Arts and Associate Professor of Music at McNeese State University;
• Nancy Darland, Professor of Nursing at Louisiana Tech University;
• Tena Golding, Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence and Professor of Mathematics at Southeastern Louisiana University,
• Marybeth Lima, Director of the Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership at Louisiana State University;
• Mike McCullough, Director of the Institute for Civic Engagement at the University of Tennessee at Martin;
• Kenneth Reardon, Director of the Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis;
• Stuart Stewart, Executive Director of Louisiana Campus Compact; and
• Shirley Theriot, Director of the Center for Community Service Learning at the University of Texas at Arlington.

The online journal is being housed by Simon Fraser University through the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems.  This is to ensure a streamlined submission, review, and publishing process with sustainability.

“It is our hope that the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education becomes not just a place to publish, but also a place to learn what is working and lead to prolific experiential learning in higher education,” said Yarbrough.

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ABOUT THE UL SYSTEM: The University of Louisiana System is the largest higher education system in the state enrolling about 83,000 students at Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, the University of Louisiana  at Lafayette and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.  With the addition of the University of New Orleans pending SACS-COC approval, the UL System’s enrollment will grow to over 94,000 students.