Detroit Update...New Take

Rev. Gerard L. Stockhausen wrote an article on December 4, 2007 on an article I previously examined in relation to the University of Michigan reaching out to the Detroit community with its classes. A quote that I found very telling in the article states that "Community involvement at the university level provides students not only hands-on learning that complements their classroom and laboratory experiences, but also increased connections to their community and a stronger awareness of social issues." This is an ideal that needs to be recreated throughout the United States. If students are better able to understand their part in society and how what they are learning impacts society.

Stockhausen is the president of University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan's largest Catholic university. In the article he notes that UDM has actively involved in outreach methods in the Detroit area for decades. He discussed co-op experiences and large efforts that their different schools of teaching are having on the community. An area that he discussed that is in progress at Towson University and several others around the country are its classes where service learning is built-in to the class. I believe that the main purpose of this article was to note that the University of Michigan is not the only university devoting time to helping Detroit. There are universities that are always servicing the communities they're in and are getting none of the recognition.