This list below of IU Bloomington units describes service-focused courses, research, internships, and volunteer opportunities to help you identify an area of interest on campus. You may directly contact the unit you want to know more about.
Involved faculty, staff, and students will be happy to hear from you and to help you connect with campus or community partners.
Volunteer Central
Explore 270+ volunteer opportunities ranging from short-term, one-time opportunities to ongoing, long-term opportunities.
Faculty and students in this department, which is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, work to unlock the mysteries of the human brain by studying social relationships, mental disorders, child development, education, criminality, and the relationship between humans and animals.
The department offers science education programs for high schoolers and participates in special programs with organizations such as Head Start, Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts, Monroe County Community School Corporation, Middle Way House, and the WonderLab Museum of Science, Health, and Technology.
Contact Information
Mike Jackson, Community Outreach & Alumni Relations Coordinator: jomijack@indiana.edu, 812-855-8897
The PACE program offers internships and other forms of community engagement activities. PACE’s mentored internship opportunities include local, state, federal, and international work in non-profits, government, businesses, advocacy, electoral, and issue-based organizations. Other PACE engagement activities include such projects as Voices for Democracy and Civility, which provides opportunities for students to work with community members and university affiliates to facilitate conversations about important, and often contentious, public issues. PACE courses help students to bring theory into practice by participating in field trips (including City Council and Statehouse visits), democratic deliberation, and community engaged learning to earn a PACE certificate or Leaders and Leadership minor.
Among other community outreach projects, the Jacobs School of Music offers the Fairview Violin Project, which is a collaboration between the Jacobs School; the Summer Star Foundations for Nature, the Arts, and Humanity; and the Monroe County Community School Corporation. The Fairview Project began in 2008 with the goal of providing violin instruction to young children who don't have access to such instruction. The Jacobs School’s Project Jumpstart empowers and supports entrepreneurial, innovative thought and action among Jacobs students; its work also includes partnerships with the Bloomington community.
Contact Information
Alain Barker, Director, Project Jumpstart: abarker@indiana.edu or 812-856-5719
As the hub of social impact for business-minded students, the Kelley Institute for Social Impact empowers socially conscious undergraduate students to make a difference in local and global communities through education, service, career development through local and international internships, and leadership opportunities in student organizations.
Contact Information
Kelley Institute for Social Impact: kisi@indiana.edu, 812-856-7852
Law students at the Maurer School engage with the local, state, national, and global communities in wide-ranging ways. The law school offers seven in-house, live-client legal clinics through which students—working closely under the supervision of clinical faculty—provide a range of pro bono legal services to the local community. Students also give back through the school's Access to Justice Program; through practicum and independent clinical projects; and through Maurer’s extensive externship program. The school’s Stewart Fellowship Program is a fully funded global internship program through which students spend the summer working in law firms, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Students can also work with one of Maurer’s research centers, including the Stewart Center on the Global Legal Profession and the Center for Constitutional Democracy. Each year, Indiana law students dedicate thousands of hours helping low-income residents and other under-served populations.
The new Serve:Design center connects the School of Art, Architecture, and Design’s faculty and classes with the local, regional, and global community. Its programs advance engaged scholarship and design that has social impact by preparing students for lifelong civic and social responsibility in an increasingly diverse and complex global society. The school is housed within the College of Arts and Sciences at IU.
Contact Information
Jon Racek, Co-Director, Serve:Design, jonracek@indiana.edu
The School of Education offers the following collaboration and outreach programs: Global Gateway for teachers, offering overseas teaching opportunities for students; I-CARE, working on quality of life issues with people in sub-Saharan Africa; INSITE, an initiative for Indiana schools that converts data into actionable information that empowers the teacher-learning process; the Make, Innovate, Learn Lab, a maker space built to help visitors explore creative solutions to pedagogical problems; the P-16 Collaboration, working with Indiana schools on issues such as graduation rates and college preparation; Partners in Education, which helps make college a goal for middle school students; Saturday Science Quest for Kids; and Saturday Art School Program.
School of Global and International Studies programs offer students many opportunities to put theory into practice, both locally and internationally. In recent classes, students in a global food security class volunteered in the community gardens of a local food pantry, while a “Nature in the City” class worked with the local parks department to study the urban landscape. Students in Diplomacy Lab courses work closely with faculty on projects with U.S. State Department officials; past participants in this class have gone on to secure government internships and even permanent jobs with the State Department. Students can prepare for global service by taking part in the Peace Corps Prep Program, an IU-U.S. Peace Corps collaboration. Participating students earn a 25-hour certificate through combined academic coursework and service-learning projects, targeted internships, and personalized advice from a Peace Corps recruiter. The School of Global and International Studies is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering currently engages with the community by providing a range of technology-based assistance. These engagements might result in a new website or application design and/or development, consulting advice, technology support, hardware development, technology training, data analysis, cybersecurity consulting, or other technological services.
Contact Information
Matt Hottell, Serve IT Director: serveit@indiana.edu
The IU School of Nursing is committed to searching for ways to advance the health of the communities it serves. G.O.A.L. University is an obesity-prevention program for children ages four to 12; nursing students in the Promoting Healthy Populations Practicum work with students in after-school programs at the Monroe County Community School Corporation elementary schools and the Ellettsville Boys and Girls Club. The Dr. Anita Aldrich Community Health Promotion Project is an interdisciplinary effort to identify the health care needs of the residents of south central Indiana and help improve the region’s health care services.
Contact Information
For more information on the Anita Aldrich project, contact Kim Decker, Director of the project, at kidecker@iu.edu and 812-855-1729.
The IU School of Optometry offers many opportunities for community outreach, including: Volunteers in Medicine of Monroe County, providing free medial services to low-income, uninsured Indiana residents of Monroe and Owen County; providing eye examinations to residents of the Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, which offers long-term services to children and adolescents with emotional disturbance, adults of all ages with serious mental illness, and adults wtih chronic addictive disorders; IU School of Optometry Community Outreach, which provides access to vision health care services for the medically underserved; InfantSEE, a public health program designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care; and school vision screenings, which the school has provided for kindergarteners and first graders at nearly 30 schools in Bloomington and Indianapolis.
The School of Public and Environmental Affairs provides opportunities for students to advance their skills, grow their networks, and learn to lead outside of the classroom. Whether students choose to get involved with the school, the community, our nation’s capital, or the world, SPEA’s organizations and enrichment opportunities allow students to apply classroom learning to the greater good.
The School of Public Health–Bloomington offers numerous local and global opportunities for students to take part in community engagement and student involvement. SPH Engage supports School of Public Health students by providing resources to enrich the co-curricular activities that make up an important part of college life.
Contact Information
Alex Purcell, Workforce Development, Office of Global and Community Health Partnerships, aspurcel@indiana.edu
Community engagement and advocacy are at the core of what we do in the Indiana University School of Social Work. Social work students who take classes for our minor, bachelor’s, and master’s programs regularly engage in service and capacity-building projects to address our area’s most pressing needs. The student-led Social Work Student Association offers co-curricular opportunities that promote social justice and connection.
Contact Information
Bruce McCallister, Coordinator of Student Outreach (undergraduate): brmccall@indiana.edu
Colleen Rose, Student Services Coordinator (international service- learning): rosec@indiana.edu
Karen Allen, Director, Social Work Program (faculty and student research collaboration/community engagement): karealle@indiana.edu
The Media School, which is housed in IU’s College of Arts and Sciences, provides a variety of community engagement opportunities. Field experience courses (X478) offer students a curricular option to apply their learning within communities around the world within the familiar structure of a for-credit course. Other courses integrate service-learning into the curriculum by pairing students with local agencies for in-class assignments. The school also supports service-learning through Alternative Service Break trips, both internationally and domestically, through a growing partnership with the National Park Service. Media School students can participate in a variety of service-project programming driven by the school’s Experiential Education department (such as Stories of Peace and a current collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico).
Student Involvement and Leadership Center is the place to find information about getting involved with any of the 200+ registered service- and philanthropy-related student organizations. They collaborate with the Bloomington Volunteer Network and Indiana Campus Compact to help students connect to opportunities and available resources.
Contact Information
Brandon Shurr, Senior Assistant Director, Community Engagement: bshurr@indiana.edu, 812-855-4311
Peace Corps is a catalyst for grassroots international development and cultural exchange powered by Volunteers ready to use their energy, ingenuity, and skills to work toward reducing inequality and creating opportunities in communities around the world. Indiana University is proud of our long-standing and significant role in promoting Peace Corps on our campus. Consistently in the top tier,IUranked 20th in 2020 for alumni volunteers. Since 1961, more than1,748 Hoosiers have put their education and experience to work around the world in the areas of education, health, environment, community and economic development, agriculture, and youth in development.
Contact Information
Vicki Runion, IU Peace Corps Recruiter: vrunion@iu.edu,(812) 855 9257
Volunteering is a great way to have meaningful experiences while building your resume and having the opportunity to contribute to a cause you care about. It is a great way to learn about specific fields and organizations, network with others, and develop new skills. When you volunteer, you often have the opportunity to work on important, exciting projects and see them through to completion. Volunteering is a way to personalize your resume to show employers what you are passionate about, and to show that you are willing to work hard for what you believe in.
By combining academic theory with practical real-life experience, service-learning classes provide students with a broader and deeper understanding of the course content, foster a sense of civic engagement, and sharpen their insights into themselves and their place in the community. The concept is a simple one—students provide service in their community that is directly connected to their academic coursework, and the community provides an educational experience for the student.
Volunteering abroad is an excellent way to acquire cross-cultural experience, develop skills that can help in your career, and gain in-depth knowledge about important and far-reaching international problems and issues. Volunteering internationally can have a great impact on the people you serve as well as yourself.
The Indiana University Cinema—one of the nation’s most prestigious movie houses— embraces an expansive vision of arthouse programming and creates transformative cinematic experiences accessible for all.
As a volunteer, you will play a central role in creating an engaging, inclusive atmosphere for our local, regional, and global cinephile community. Our engagement opportunities provide hands-on experience within cinematic operations and will allow you to see some of the finest works of cinematic art for free, encounter legendary filmmakers, and connect with a group of people who love movies as much as you do.
The IU Office of Sustainability (also known as Sustain IU) offers numerous opportunities for volunteerism, research, and other types of project- and topic-based service and interaction, such as joining a working group with students, faculty, staff, and community members. Students can inquire about one-time or recurring opportunities, and can apply to be Sustainability Scholars.
Consider enrolling in a community engaged course, also known as a service-learning course. Through these courses, you will enhance your skills through applied experience and reflection, gain social awareness and civic engagement, and learn alongside community partners. The campus has many courses to choose from a variety of topics. Always consult your academic advisor for course-based enrollment decisions.
Sustaining Hoosier Communities Courses
The Indiana University Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative forges relationships between local communities and Indiana University students to empower people to participate in strengthening their communities. Over the course of the semester, students participate in a community project relevant to their studies, receiving hands-on experience and developing transferable skills for their future careers.