From setting up web sites in elementary schools to assessing the affordability of quality day care to presenting a theater project on a Native American reservation, Cornell University faculty members will learn about creative approaches to service learning at a symposium at the School of Hotel Administration in Statler Hall Friday, Jan. 19, sponsored by the Faculty Fellows-in-Service Program.

Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges and former director of the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker. Cornell President Hunter Rawlings will introduce him at a noon luncheon presentation in the Terrace Lounge of the Statler Hotel.

Service learning enhances the educational experience by giving students the opportunity to engage in activities that provide practical experience while responding to community needs, strengthening civic values and moral character, according to Therese O'Connor, chair of the Faculty Fellows-in-Service Program. Another important goal is to provide faculty with a means for becoming substantively engaged with community and students for a three-way partnership, she said.

At the Jan. 19 symposium, selected faculty and community members will present working drafts of papers on the challenges of service learning in diverse disciplines. Participants will discuss, question and critique the papers. Presentations will be:

• "A World Wide Web Project With Newfield Elementary School" by H. Young Kim, lecturer in the Hotel School, in 445 Statler Hall from 9:25 to 10:10 a.m.
• "Addressing the Challenge of Welfare Reform: Ensuring Affordability of Quality Day Care for All Families" by Mildred E. Warner, assistant professor of city and regional planning, in 455 Statler Hall from 9:25 to 10:10 a.m.
• "Assessing Education 240: Impact in the Community" by George J. Posner, professor of education, in 445 Statler Hall from 10:15 to 11:05 a.m.
• "Interior Design Studio: A Service-Learning Project With Local Communities" by Rhonda Gilmore, lecturer in design and environmental analysis, in 455 Statler Hall from 10:15 to 11:05 a.m.
• "The Issue of Continuity in Service Learning" by Sherene Baugher, associate professor of landscape architecture, in 455 Statler Hall from 11:10 a.m. to noon.
• "Story Theater: A Partnership Project of Cornell Faculty, Students, the Alternative Community School's Community Studies Class and the Freedom School on the Akwesasne Reservation at Rooseveltown, N.Y." by Bruce A. Levitt, professor of theater, film and dance, in 165 Statler Hall from 1:20 to 2:10 p.m.
• "Workshop for Sustainability in Service Learning" by Kenneth Reardon, associate professor of policy analysis and management, in 455 Statler Hall from 1:20 to 2:10 p.m.
• Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, will present closing remarks at 2:15 p.m. in 455 Statler Hall.