The Faculty Fellows-in-Service Program

Hans Bethe

The Faculty Fellows-in-Service Program (FFIS) was initiated in 1990 as a vehicle for Cornell University faculty and undergraduate students to work together with communities to meet human needs.

To support faculty involvement in service-learning, the Faculty Fellows in Service (FFIS) program serves as a funding source for service-learning courses and civic projects, and as a peer support network for faculty interested in developing service-learning initiatives.

FFIS is led by a Governance Committee composed of at least one representative from each of the seven Cornell colleges and the Public Service Center's Executive Director. The FFIS Governance Committee has three main service-learning initiatives: funding for course development and curriculum integration projects, civic professional projects, and the annual faculty symposium.

FFIS Program Goals

  • To increase the number of undergraduate students involved in community service activities.
  • To encourage faculty members to work with undergraduate students in community service activities.
  • To integrate community service with the academic mission of the university.
  • To strengthen Cornell's overall commitment to community service by broadening the university's involvement in public service activities at the local, state, national and international levels.

Faculty Network and Support

FFIS serves as a consulting network for faculty interested in developing service-learning courses, by offering assistance with curriculum development and finding community partners for the course projects. The FFIS involved 975 students last year in curricular service-learning and worked with dozens of community sites.










I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or abilities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

 -- William Penn