Commitment to Service Engagement
Butler stresses a commitment to serving and engaging with the
Indianapolis community. Our 290-acre campus is located five
miles from downtown, making Indianapolis our backyard. Our students
are interns and volunteers with organizations throughout the
nation's 13th-largest city.
Through the following and other outreach activities, our
students deepen their understanding of academic issues, get to know
Central Indiana's diverse people and engage in active
citizenship.
The
Indianapolis Community Requirement requires all 2014 or later
Butler graduates to complete a service learning or similar course
that includes 20 hours of reciprocal community engagement. Since
the ICR was initiated in fall 2010, close to 1300 students in 97
courses have received ICR credit by logging more than 25,860 hours
of community involvement.
Butler Community Arts
School, an initiative of the Jordan College of the Arts, is an
arts education and outreach program that offers affordable and
quality instruction in the arts to the Indianapolis community.
IPS/ Butler
Laboratory & Shortridge Magnet Schools operate as
partnerships of Butler and the Indianapolis Public School district,
these public K-5 and 6-12 schools primarily serve the
Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. The College of Education teaches
methods course in both settings. Other Butler colleges collaborate
with the schools in science, theatre, creative writing and
multicultural awareness.
Butler
University Community Outreach Pharmacy (BUCOP), a student-run
pharmacy, provides free medications and counseling on non-drug
therapies and chronic disease prevention to uninsured and
underserved patients in an eastside Indianapolis community.
Butler Volunteer
Center assists students with individual volunteer
placements and coordinates the following annual opportunities:
Bulldogs Into Streets, a full day volunteer opportunity for
incoming students; Ambassadors of Change, a four-day program that
focuses on service and leadership development; and Fall and Spring
Alternative Breaks, a weeklong service trip to an area in need.
Center for Citizenship
and Community is focused on service-learning and outreach
activities through partnerships forged with non-profit, faith-based
and neighborhood organizations, as well as governmental and social
service agencies.
Center for
Urban Ecology www.butler.edu/cueb/)
provides students with experiential learning opportunities in the
urban ecosystems of Indianapolis, all the while building upon its
history of student-faculty research and community service.