Preface: Context and definition

Creighton University is a Catholic, Jesuit comprehensive university that seeks to educate the whole person -- body, mind, heart, conscience, spirit -- and to foster "the promotion of justice." Creighton's core values include "service to others" and "appreciation of ethnic and cultural diversity." Through its teaching, research, and service, Creighton contributes to the "betterment of society," stimulates "critical and creative thinking," and provides "ethical perspectives for dealing with an increasingly complex world." (Mission Statement)
According to Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the distinctive aim of a Jesuit education is "to 'educate the whole person of solidarity for the real world.'" He suggests that "personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection." ("The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education")
Service-learning (or community-based learning), a "holistic, experiential educational strategy that integrates community service with academic courses in a context of personal growth, shared reflection, and moral and social responsibility," ("Integating Service and Learning at Creighton University") is a particularly effective and appropriate way to promote a "well-educated solidarity" (Kolvenbach).

Goals and values of service-learning in the CCAS

1. Bringing the intellectual disciplines and forms of knowledge found in the academy into creative dialogue with contemporary social needs and problems;
2. Enhancing student learning of academic subject matter through traditional forms of learning;
3. Fostering the habit of community building and responsible citizenship;
4. Developing skills of critical thinking and reflection about self, moral values, and social context;
5. Offering students opportunities to encounter individuals and communities that might otherwise remain outside their personal experience, thus expanding their understanding of and commitment to cultural diversity, social justice, and the common good;
6. Integrating the values of Jesuit higher education, including:

a. openness to finding God in all things and the ideal of contemplation-in- action;
b. respect for diverse perspectives on human faithfulness and the pursuit of meaning;
c. love of humanistic learning and rigor in its pursuit;
d. affirmation of the relationship between religious commitment, moral seriousness, and of "the faith that does justice";
e. a desire to be "men and women for and with others;" and
f. a preferential option for and solidarity with the poor and marginalized.

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