WORK COLLEGES CONSORTIUM
CPO 2163
Berea College
Berea, KY 40404

                                                                    Executive Director           

Phone: (859) 985-3154                  Fax: (859) 985-3989      

Member Colleges:Alice Lloyd College and Berea College in Kentucky, Blackburn College in Illinois, College of the Ozarks in Missouri, Ecclesia College in Arkansas, Sterling College in Vermont, and Warren Wilson College in North Carolina

Mission Statement

      On each work college campus, there has been a historical recognition of the value of work and an institutional commitment to promote an understanding of that value among students through establishment of a work program. These work programs help students to understand work as a tool for experiential education, as a means of serving the community, and as a place for integrating academic learning, practical knowledge, and life lived in the larger community. The colleges blend courses in liberal learning and applied studies with their own particular vision of the undergraduate curriculum.

      At work colleges, students are encouraged to reexamine the values of the larger society. All the work colleges stress the value of plain living. In this environment where work is a part of the educational experience along with academics, students and faculty can resist external pressure to view the world of higher education as an "ivory tower," out of touch with the real world. Rather, the world is here, and we are committed to the improvement of that world. Immediate benefits of participation in work college programs include reduction of student debt, increased opportunities for community service, and practical career preparation.

      At the work colleges, we believe that the educational process should be comprehensive, with each of its many participants informing and being informed by the broader community. Work college students prepare for leadership through participation. Community service constitutes a significant portion of the work college experience.

      At some of the colleges, students are paid for efforts to organize voluntary action. At others, students may work directly with a wide range of agencies such as schools and nursing homes or with individuals as part of their work contract.

      Students are encouraged and assisted in reflecting upon these experiences. This preparation provides students with a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between scholarship and the lived experience of citizens of their region, their country, and their world.

The Work Colleges Consortium, established in 1996, undertakes collaborations for these purposes:

1.      To enhance the connections of various undergraduate work experiences (work program, community service, internships, summer jobs, field studies, etc.) with the academic programs at the member institutions.

2.      To develop and refine a model for assessing learning from work experiences from which each institution can customize its own assessment tools and procedures.

3.      To assist each of the work colleges in their own work program improvement efforts.

4.      To maintain a database on the six colleges and promote communication among students, faculty, and staff at the six colleges.

5.      To develop and coordinate work/service/learning projects joining students from work colleges with national and regional community service programs

6.      To promote the dissemination of effective student work-learning practices more widely throughout American post-secondary educational institutions

Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky
Berea College in Berea, Kentucky
Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois
College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri
Ecclesia College  in Springdale, Arkansas
Sterling College in Craftsbury Commons, Vermont
Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina