Center for Service receives $3 million gift

Nords donate money in five-year pledge

At the beginning of Nancy Dye's presidency, she voiced a committment to establishing community service programs. Two years later, the Center for Service and Learning has received a $3 million gift to support such operations.

The gift, a five-year pledge, was given by Jane and Eric Nord, longtime Oberlin residents. It is the largest outright gift the College has ever received from a living donor.

Dye said, "The great thing about the gift is that it's exactly what Oberlin wants to do and exactly what the Nords want to do."

"It's a gift that supports both the community and College. That's very special," she said.

"The gift really is nothing short of thrilling," Daniel Gardner OC '90, director of the Center for Service and Learning, said.

The Center for Service and Learning, established two years ago by Dye, facilitates the interaction between community service and academics. It provides students with information and gets them involved with local community service opportunities.

The creation of the Center for Service and Learning in 1994 was made possible through a $500,000 gift from an anonymous donor. That money enabled the College to hire Gardner as Center director. As director, Gardner oversees the functioning of the Center and the increasing integration of community service into the College curriculum. He also works with community groups to define their needs.

The gift, Gardner said, will allow the Center for Service and Learning to assess how much impact the Center has in the surrounding community and provide more innovative services and built-in stability.

"The gift allows us to say that Oberlin will be continuing to provide continuing community service efforts all the time," Gardner said. He said the gift will cover the Center's budget and attract additional support. "The gift is a beginning, not an end," he said.

With the gift, the Center will be able provide an initiative to engage students and faculty to work on research questions generated by community organizations. "We want to focus on ways to draw on the resources of faculty and staff work, particularly those with research initiatives associated with them," Gardner said.

Since its inception, the Center for Service and Learning has attracted or retained foundation support of more than $280,000 each year. During 1995-96, the Center placed 978 students in 70 local community service organizations.

Since Gardner assumed the position of Center director, Oberlin has risen from an average rate of participation in community service to being ranked in the top ten percent of colleges in the U.S., according to an independent study.

Young Dawkins, vice president for research and development, said "It's a wonderful affirmation of one of the historical gifts of the College; It underscores our motto, which is `Learning and Labor.'"