Application Open for Community Scholars Program

Girl working on her computer outside.
Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 2, 2020) —The application window is currently open for the Community Scholars Program (CSP) that recognizes and supports community service and leadership development in students at the University of Kentucky.

CSP is offered through the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, a center that promotes service-learning and supports sustainable and meaningful civic engagement in teaching, learning and scholarship. Service-Learning is an integrative experience through which learners engage in thoughtfully organized actions in response to community identified assets and needs.

CSP is a cohort of Federal Work-Study-eligible students with paid internship opportunities at community organizations, schools or government agencies for an academic year. These internship opportunities are combined with Experiential Education (EXP) credit, civic engagement and professional development workshops and leadership training to create a well-rounded service-learning and professional experience.

Students will be interns for both fall and spring semesters and will participate in learning workshops focused on civic engagement, leadership and professional development. Students will gain valuable work experience, explore career options, network with leaders in the community and apply what they have learned in the classroom to the real world. They will also participate in one Center for Community Outreach (CCO) service event per semester, reflections and a group capstone project or service event for the community. 

For more information about CSP, visit the ServeLearnConnect website or reach out to Grace Ragain at Grace.Ragain@uky.edu.

Applications close March 15 at 11:59 p.m. Undergraduate students can apply here.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.