Every semester, we offer the research service-learning gateway option in two or three Public Policy classes. The students in these classes have the opportunity to add an RSL component to their coursework by doing service-learning work with a community partner and connecting their service experience back to their coursework. The goal of the RSL gateway course is to introduce students to basic research skills and challenge them to integrate what they are learning in the community with policy concepts taught in their courses. The RSL gateway is generally available in "PUBPOL 114: Political Analysis for Public Policy Making" and "PUBPOL 116: Policy Choice as Value Conflict," and we have have recently expanded it to include the public policy elective course, "CCS 150: Children in Contemporary Society." 

To participate in the RSL Gateway option, students submit an application in the first month of the semester. In September 2008, Kim Atkins applied to participate in the RSL gateway option for PUBPOL 114, taught by Professor Ken Rogerson. In her application, Kim wrote:

"Research Service-Learning provides the perfect opportunity for me to witness, first hand, all the information I have learned about in an academic setting... Last semester, my classmates and I studied the increasing influence that religion has in the political arena and on society at large. I would have never fully understood what this academic and somewhat abstract idea meant if it hadn't been for the RSL component of the class... This defines RSL: the art of using academia in real life situations so as to be transformed from a passive learner to an active engager."

All RSL students commit to 20 hours of service with a community partner organization. In Kim's semester, the focus of PUBPOL 114 was food security, so all the community partners addressed that issue. Six students were placed with each of the following organizations: The Durham Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, and Society of St. Andrew.

Kim and five other students provided service to the Society of St. Andrew, a gleaning organization that relies on volunteers to collect extra produce from farmers' fields and orchards after harvest and deliver it to people in need. Kim spent 20 hours with her classmates in fields in Eastern North Carolina, gleaning sweet potatoes to be donated to the local food bank.

An important aspect of the RSL philosophy is critical reflection, as it gives students the space to make connections between their service hours and their academic work. To this end, RSL students all submit a critical reflection written assignment and participate in two reflection discussion sessions that are facilitated by the Professor and the RSL Coordinator.

In her assignment, Kim was asked to reflect on the policy dimensions of her organization. She wrote:

"I think one policy issue involves the amount of tax credit. I'm not sure if the Society of St. Andrew has difficulties recruiting farmers to participate in the gleaning process, but if so then we could propose a policy to urge the NC legislature to increase the tax credit. I also think the Society of St. Andrew should look at their advertisement policy and recruitment methods. It would be great to spread the word about the successes of the organization so as to increase the number of volunteers and also recruit more farmers to participate."

At the end of the semester, each group of RSL students creates a memo or research proposal that relates their service work to their coursework. In PUBPOL 114, the final product is a policy memo that addresses a particular challenge the community organization is facing. 

Along with the other five students in her group, Kim wrote a memo that presented ways in which tax credits for truckers who transport food hunger relief organizations could be used to offset the rising costs of gleaning.

"If signed into law, the Hunger Relief Trucking Tax Credit (HRTTC) Act will curtail rising costs of gleaning. This legislature will provide tax breaks to truckers who transport food for hunger relief organizations such as the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA). It is imperative that Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the committee that is reviewing the HRTTC, support the bill so his committee submits the HRTTC to a vote on the Senate floor. Support from Baucus can be obtained through a letter writing campaign. Data regarding the societal cost and benefit of gleaning may also persuade Baucus. Lastly, in order to achieve broad congressional support for the HRTTC, the SoSA must generate publicity that will educate congressmen about gleaning."

After completing the RSL Gateway class, students are encouraged to continue using research service-learning skills during the summer and beyond.

Students can complete a community-based research (CBR) project in the summer, by collaborating with a partner organization to identify a need in a community, and using CBR skills to address it. Upon returning to Duke, students can link their field research with a capstone research project in the public policy curriculum.  For example, a student might choose to write a senior honors thesis that addresses a community issue, or opt to take an independent study course that provides an opportunity to explore the larger scholarly and policy contexts connected to the summer work. 

About the RSL Pathway, Kim says:

"The RSL Gateway experience has enhanced my academic career at Duke. It's incredibly rewarding to utilize academic knowledge in order to better understand how certain mechanisms operate in the real world. I look forward to continuing to draw on the plethora of academic information received during my undergraduate career to assist me during the next stage of my life as I pursue graduate studies and a professional career."