Sustainable Business Practices

Service Learning

Two crowd monitors wearing masks with sign in between them — Business student Mark Nowicki speaks about his service learning experience amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read his story

Students with Palmer at Loaves and Fishes in Kalamazoo — MBA students learned how firms encourage volunteerism to promote employee engagement, reduce turnover and build bridges with communities, then volunteered their own time.

MBA students volunteered their time in the Kalamazoo area by rehabilitating a community garden in the Vine Street neighborhood.

Graduate students volunteering at City View on the Square — Graduate students enrolled in the MBA strategic management course spent a class period serving at City View on the Square, a housing cooperative for the elderly. The students helped implement a volunteerism celebration for co-op members.

Service learning: beyond self

Students in the Haworth College of Business are learning that social responsibility is an important part of being a business leader. Each semester, Business Broncos make impactful contributions to the community and society through service learning. Combining hands-on community service with classroom instruction, Western Michigan University’s service learning opportunities provide students with meaningful academic experiences that greatly benefit others.

Whether it’s assisting a local agency or serving those in need across the globe, volunteer projects offered through WMU’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices take students beyond the classroom and allow them to contribute to the overall good of society. These lifelong experiences mean our students graduate with a deep sense of social responsibility and commitment to serving others that can be applied immediately to their careers.

Examples of recent projects

Each semester, students in the ethics and sustainable business course complete 15 hours of community service in addition to their coursework. Community partners in southwest Michigan include:

Black Arts and Cultural Center
Building Blocks
Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center
City of Kalamazoo
City View on the Square
Communities in Schools
Douglass Community Center
Eastside Neighborhood Association
Edison Neighborhood Association
Healthy House for Women
Heritage at Wyndham
Kalamazoo Covenant Academy
Medilodge
Peacejam
Urban Folk Art Exploratory
Youth Advancement Academy
YMCA of Kalamazoo

MBA students have completed capstone projects with Kalamazoo partners including:

Social events for residents of City View in the Square senior living center
Landscaping services for Open Doors
Rehabilitating a community garden in the Vine Street neighborhood
Game night for residents at Wyndham West senior living center

Additionally, the Haworth College of Business offers a number of opportunities for experiential learning through service. Projects include:

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance trip to Alaska
Fort Custer National Cemetery Project in honor of veterans
MBA beach cleanup project with Alliance for the Great Lakes

Learn more about service projects offered through the college of business in the PRME report.

Impactful experiences

“The benefits of service learning projects offered through the Center for Sustainable Business Practices are many,” says Dr. Timothy Palmer, professor of management and director of the center. “Students get to have a hands-on experience serving others while learning the importance of social responsibility in the corporate sector. Not only are these opportunities insightful, they are incredibly meaningful.”

Service learning experiences are intended to help students:

Develop a perspective on social responsibility.
Increase awareness of the outcomes of organizational decisions on stakeholders in addition to stockholders.
Become socially responsible business leaders and citizens who recognize the importance of the corporate sector taking a socially responsible perspective.

Contact the center to learn more.

WMU Sustainability PRME Report Haworth College of Business