It was 1989 when 20 Bentley students taking the course Values and Choices had an idea.

Wanting to take an experiential approach to course work, they began volunteering at Boston’s Pine Street Inn during the evenings, then shared their experiences and observations in class discussion of economic stereotypes.

Classroom-to-community-to-classroom learning was relatively unexplored academic territory at the time. Over the past quartercentury, Bentley has helped pioneer the movement and remains a national thought-leader in service-learning and civic engagement.

AN ETHIC TAKES HOLD
A year after the initial work with Pine Street Inn, four faculty members from different academic disciplines joined what was then called the Bentley Homeless Project. The service ethic caught on: more than 250 students participated in 1990-1991.

The renamed Bentley Service–Learning project gained its first director in 1992: Professor of English Edward Zlotkowski. At the same time, a grant by the Corporation for National and Community Service funded scholarships and work-study opportunities for students to pursue service-learning

DIVERSE PARTNERSHIPS
Today, a service component is part of 100 courses across disciplines; these are ongoing partnerships with dozens of organizations.

Many students work with local nonprofits, applying their skills in our areas of focus: diversity, elders, poverty, sustainability and youth. Others provide consulting. For example, students testified before the U.S. Congress on environmental issues, through a course taught by Associate Professor David Szymanski. Still others volunteer in innovative community centers we helped create in low-income housing neighborhoods.

SOCIALLY ENGAGED

The center marks its 25th year with a new name: the Bentley Service–Learning and Civic Engagement Center (BSLCE). The change reflects a growing number of initiatives that connect the university community with social causes. Examples are an event to promote fair trade and a fundraiser to help build a school and bring clean water to a village in Ecuador.

Looking back, we are proud of Bentley’s leadership in service-learning and our impactful work in the community. The center owes much to past directors James Ostrow (Sociology) and Franklyn Salimbene (Law). Looking forward, we are excited by the ideas that students will bring to us in the spirit of social entrepreneurship. The mission, as ever: develop civic-minded business leaders, armed with the skills to create the necessary structural change for people and planet.

Sociologist and political economist Jonathan White has directed the BSLCE since 2013. He is an associate professor of sociology.