Community Engaged Learning at Mizzou
The Office of Service-Learning was founded in January 1995 to support academically-based community outreach campus-wide, serve as a consulting center for program design and implementation, and provide and maintain partnerships with service agencies and organizations in the state of Missouri. In 2024 the office was renamed the Office of Community Engaged Learning.
Service/Community Engaged Learning courses at MU combine academic coursework with relevant and impactful service to the community. The goal of service-learning is simple–what students learn in the classroom is applied in the community to create engaged and effective servers and, conversely, student activities in the community are integrated into the classroom to transform and enrich learning.
Each semester at MU, thousands of students enroll in community engaged learning courses that connect them to credited service opportunities in the local community. Through service to others, students learn valuable lessons in citizenship and are able to apply their classroom knowledge to real-life situations. Through community engaged learning, students meet real needs in the community while developing important personal and professional skills.
Taking on CEL students means that student volunteers will be held accountable to not only their agency, but to our office, faculty members and the University as a whole. We not only prepare students for the professionalism and responsibility that comes with CEL, but we offer support throughout the year to make sure students follow through on their commitments.
The Office of Community Engaged Learning’s mission is to foster students’ engaged learning for career and society readiness, with a vision that every MU student can benefit from community engaged learning.
Our guiding principles are to:
- Connect students’ community engagement to academic learning, reflection, and credit
- Support faculty to deliver learning that sticks
- Facilitate reciprocal partnerships to extend learning beyond the classroom
- Embody Mizzou’s public value mission through community engaged learning
Through Community Engaged:
- Learning- we designate and support High-Impact courses
- Leadership- we develop future leaders through our Minor in Leadership & Service and Civic Leaders Internship Program (CLIP)
- Service- we facilitate curricular and co-curricular microcredential opportunities for all levels of student involvement