Student Scholar Program

Scholars in the Community-based (service) Learning Student Scholar Program contribute to CSUN’s mission to cultivate civic responsibility amongst students by assisting community-based learning professors and leading community-based learning students. While each student scholar experience is different, the goal of the program is to ensure that Student Scholars are able to enhance their professional development and leadership potential while gaining community-based research and project coordination skills.

Student Scholars are selected by professors to serve as the student leaders of a service-learning class and receive a scholarship grant for their leadership duties. Student Scholars are chosen by their professors for showing leadership potential, an interest in civic engagement, and strong research and organizational skills.

Each community-based learning professor has their own set of qualifications and required hours of availability.

Engaged Scholars are typically asked to be able to commit up to 20 hours of assistance for their community-based learning professor per semester.

• Are enrolled at CSUN during the academic year they serve, but are not necessarily enrolled in a Community-based Learning (CBL) class during the semester when they are acting as student scholars
• Attend the Student Scholar Training and Orientation in the beginning of the semester
• Assist students in the CBL course with the placement process using the S4 Database
• Volunteer for or attend at least one event organized by the OCE during their tenure as student scholars
• Work closely with their professor and complete the assigned tasks by the mutually agreed deadlines
• Sign a Confidentiality Statement and Student Scholarship Disbursement form to allow CSUN to process payment to their student accounts, which is disbursed at the end of the semester.

The responsibilities of a Student Scholar varies depending on the community-based learning professor’s project needs and goals. These duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Managing the S4 Service Learning Database:
• Tracking student placements, form submissions and timelog submissions/approvals
• Assisting students in utilizing the database and getting their sites approved
• Completing Research and Reflection projects or Collecting data and critical literature for professor’s class reflection pieces
• Tracking data to be used for the online Year-end Report on behalf of the Community-based Learning class 
• Leading student projects or Serving as liaison between the class and their community partner
• Event coordinating and planning
• Collaborate with and Support the Office of Community Engagement to Complete Community Engagement assessment surveys
• Participate in the mid-semester networking meeting
• Collaborate with other Student Scholars on presentation/roundtable discussions on Community-based Learning and/ or their project (once either in Fall or Spring Semester)

*Student Scholars are not to serve as Academic Student Employees (Teaching Associates, Graduate Assistants, and Instructional Student Assistants) and, therefore, cannot participate in grading students’ work, developing lesson plans, teaching lessons, etc.