Global Service-Learning

Global Service-Learning

When the world becomes your classroom, feelings evolve, walls break down, and true learning begins. Theories are good for a lecture hall, but I’ve never met a theory I could share a meal with.

Alex Pollan ’18

Global service-learning courses, while different in thematic content, all share the common goal of facilitating intentional international experiences that lead students to academic and personal conclusions on what it means to be a responsible global citizen and advocate for social justice. Through a four credit course during the summer, fall, or spring term, students experience and reflect upon critical community engagement and global citizenship, through the perspective of their course themes. A short-term international experience serves as a central “text” of the course, which provides students with experiences and a new lens through which to understand course themes and their community-engaged experiences.

Global service-learning at Providence College is guided by values of: collaborative engagement; global citizenship; reciprocity; academic rigor; curiosity; focused and genuine inquiry; listening with empathy; and a culture of social responsibility. Our program works toward developing critical consciousness among learners, so we can question our historical and social position and to view the world through a problem-posing lens. We also deeply value the voices and perspectives of our community partners, and those most directly affected by their work in their local communities. We see our community partners–both those in our local context of Providence, as well as globally–as an extension of our learning and teaching community.

Guided by these values, each global service-learning course will confront three key questions. Through course themes, the international experience, critical reflection and inquiry, participants will seek to better understand the following:

• How can we contribute to combating racial inequities, economic injustice, and other systemic forms of oppression, from a place of  empathy and humility?
• How do we perform responsibly and justly as Global Citizens socially, economically, and as agents of collaborative engagement?
• How do we take what we learn through these experiences, and advocate for social justice?

Courses & Trips for 2022-2023

Global Border Crossing: Tijuana, México & San Diego, CA

Faculty Instructors: Kara Cebulko & Deborah Lopez
Travel Dates: Spring Break 2023: March 4-12, 2023
Partner Organization: Esperanza International

Scholarship Application: 

Scholarships for underrepresented students, including students from multicultural backgrounds, first generation college students and students with high financial need can apply for scholarship opportunities here. 

Scholarships for underrepresented students, including students from multicultural backgrounds, first generation college students, and students with high financial need can apply for individual scholarship opportunities. Due to generous funding from Santander all program costs are reduced for every participant. Additional individual scholarships cover 25% to 75% of the trip cost for students.

Previous Programs:

For information about courses and trips offered in previous years, see here.