Community-Based Service Learning

At Hartwick, we know that leading a life of significance means giving back, too.

We know that some of the most important lessons happen when you’re engaged in making the world a better place. That’s why Community-Based Service Learning (CBSL) is part of Hartwick’s mission of melding the liberal arts and experiential learning.

Seventy percent of the 2015 graduating class took at least one CBSL course in their time at Hartwick.

In CBSL courses, you’ll use class lessons to help solve everyday problems in the Oneonta community. Groups of students in credit-bearing courses work with community partners under the guidance of a professor or staff member to meet both educational goals and the needs of a community partner. Through CBSL, students also gain exposure to different careers and strengthen their resumes.

CBSL is characterized by:

  • Engagement: Service that addresses community needs
  • Academics: A direct link between service and course curriculum
  • Reflection: Students consider the broader impact of their work & their discipline
  • Reciprocity: Students, faculty and partners are all serve as both learner and teacher

Sample Hartwick CBSL Courses

Below is a sampling of CBSL courses offered at Hartwick. For the most up-to-date list, visit the Office of Global Education (globaleducation@hartwick.edu) in PSGE. In many cases, only special sections of a course are designated as CBSL and so you should always check with the faculty member.

  • BUSA 230 Organizational Behavior
  • EDUC 220 Philosophy & Sociology of Education
  • EDUC 480 Interdisciplinary Reflective Seminar
  • EDUC 490/491/492 Student Teaching Childhood/Middle Childhood/Adolescence
  • EDUC 390 Multicultural Mini-Practicum
  • EDUC 391 Special Education Mini-Practicum
  • NURS 441 Psychosocial Nursing: Theory & Practice
  • NURS 234 Medical-Surgical Nursing: Theory & Practice
  • NURS 336 Rural Health Nursing
  • NURS 357 Pediatric Nursing: Theory & Lab
  • NURS 441 Psychiatric Mental Health: Theory & Practice
  • NURS 443 Community Health Nursing: Theory & Practice
  • NURS 449 Leadership & Management: Theory & Practice
  • NURS 257 Women’s Reproductive Health
  • NURS 346 J Term, Jamaica: Transcultural Health
  • PSYC 250 Community Psychology
  • RELS 350 Near Death Experience
  • SOCI 155 FYS: Children’s Lives
  • SOCI 321 Introduction to Social Work
  • SOCI 385 Qualitative Analysis
  • SOCI 350 Fair Trade & Human Rights

Community Based Service Learning Opportunities at Hartwick

At Hartwick, we’ve developed partnerships with local organizations through which many Hartwick students have completed service learning projects in a variety of settings. Students interested in these opportunities are encouraged to learn about the organizations below and contact the Office of Global Education.

  • A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital
  • Bassett Healthcare
  • Catholic Charities
  • Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care
  • Center for Community Development & Entrepreneurship (CADE)
  • Chestnut Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
  • Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce
  • Cooperstown Central School
  • Country Club Chevrolet
  • Family Resource Network
  • Head Start
  • Heroin and Opioid Addiction Taskforce
  • Huntington Memorial Library
  • Job Corps
  • LEAF (Leatherstocking Education on Alcoholism/Addictions Foundation)
  • Milford Central School
  • Mind Matters
  • New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Company
  • New York State Historical Society & Fenimore Art Museum
  • Oneonta Boys & Girls Club
  • Otsego County Chamber of Commerce
  • Oneonta City School District
  • Oneonta World of Learning (OWL)
  • Opportunities for Otsego
  • The Plains at Parish Homestead
  • Richfield Springs Central School
  • Royal Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge & Hyundai
  • Pathfinder Village
  • St. Mary’s Food Pantry
  • South Kortright Central School
  • Springbrook
  • Unalam
  • VIP: Violence Intervention Program
  • YMCA Teen Center
  • Walton Middle & High School