Reflections: What prompted CCCC to create a national service-learning committee?
Deans: There were short-term and long-term goals. As for the short term, last spring Campus Compact issued a request for proposals to national disciplinary associations offering the possibility of grant money to support teaching and research in service-learning. A committee officially sanctioned by NCTE and CCCC was needed to write what turned out to be a successful grant proposal and then to coordinate the activities funded by the grant. As for the long term, establishing a committee is one way to foster the institutionalization of service-learning. It gives service-learning advocates an ongoing voice in CCCC.
Reflections: Who serves on the committee? How were the members chosen?
Deans: At the 1999 CCCC Service-Learning Special Interest Group and through the NCTE Service-Learning listserv, NCTE members were invited to nominate themselves or others for the committee. Those names were submitted to Victor Villanueva, CCCC Chair, who made selections from that list as well as others that he thought appropriate. I know that he wanted the committee to be diverse and inclusive with respect to both the individuals selected and the kinds of institutions represented. Current committee members include myself, Rosemary Arca of Foothill College, Nora Bacon of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Louise Rodriguez Connal of the University of Arizona, Linda Flower of Carnegie Mellon University, and Barbara Roswell of Goucher College.