Kaitlin Welborn | Majoring locally, too

Yesterday, 2,700 Africans died of malaria, 144 South African women were raped and 14,500 children under 15 were infected with AIDS. International development efforts need both more time and more money to help eliminate these tragedies.

Thus the College Dean's Advisory Board announcement that it will be developing an international-development minor must be met with praise. Penn's commitment to international issues, as seen by the Penn Global Development Initiative, will only be strengthened by the proposed minor.

But focusing outward often means losing a little perspective on what's happening in our own backyard. To restore balance between Engaging Locally and Engaging Globally, Penn should strongly consider creating a centralized public-service program aimed at more-domestic issues.

Penn already provides services to those who have a public-service inclination. The Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships provides academically-based community service (or ABCS) courses in which students combine theory with practice by directly serving West Philadelphia and the Penn community.

But this is not enough. Penn needs to view community-service coursework as a discipline and not just on a course-by-course basis.

Joann Weeks, the associate director of the Netter Center, states that it's the Center's goal to be a "central point on campus" for students to find out about public-service coursework.

But ABCS courses are only one part of a public-service education. Not every course needs to have a service component to benefit those who wish to enter the field. I consider my classes on microeconomics and feminist theory to be integral to my understanding of public service. It is absolutely necessary to understand the history and theory behind community service before you go out and do it in the field.

Unfortunately, though, to get these classes I had to bounce from department to department. My transcript reads like the course register: from Anthropology to Urban Studies, I've been to them all. Through this I've discovered a great many courses that contribute directly and indirectly to the public-service sector, but I've also discovered the greater need for a core program or listing focusing on community outreach.

According to its director, David Grossman, Civic House is currently taking an inventory of public-interest opportunities available at Penn as well as where the University could make improvements. However, the list is intended for internal purposes at Civic House.

While this listing is a step in the right direction, Penn ideally needs to create a centralized public-service program.

Perhaps the most controversial, and the most unlikely, step would be toward a public-service minor. However, finding a department to house it would be difficult when all budgets are tight. And do we really need more bureaucracy?

Alternatively, perhaps the University could create a special interdisciplinary program or certificate for public service. After completing courses off of a list from different departments, a student would effectively have a specialization in public service.

Most realistically, Penn could create a centralized list of courses across disciplines that might interest the public-service inclined. This requires no bureaucracy, department or office. Since public service is not limited to the liberal arts, the four undergraduate schools should work together to ensure that the list is truly interdisciplinary.

I am not suggesting that we need a Uuniversity-wide community-service requirement. Penn students who would participate in this program already serve the community through their extracurricular activities, whether through the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, the Urban Nutrition Initiative or other groups.

Penn students just need to know that public service is a viable academic and professional option. It's a myth that all Penn students are pre-med, pre-law or pre-business. Five percent of the Class of 2006 went on to nonprofit careers, while another 14 percent worked in education and 6 percent worked for the largest nonprofit organization in the world: the American government.

So many alumni working in public-service careers shows that the interest is there. Centralizing available coursework into a cogent program or listing would enable students to explore this possibility.

So, Dean's Advisory Board, show that you value domestic service as much as you do international. Centralize access to public-service courses to ensure that Penn students continue to give back to the community throughout their careers.

Kaitlin Welborn is a College senior from Tampa, Fla. Not Your Mother's Daughter appears on alternating Wednesday. Her email address is welborn@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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