Nursing Faculty Roles in International Service–Learning Projects

The purpose of this article is to describe faculty roles related to the design and implementation of an international nursing service–learning project. The impetus for this project was the 2008 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) recommendations for using service–learning and immersion of students in diverse communities to improve nursing education in the area of cultural competency (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008a). We define service–learning as a learning experience engaging students in meeting community needs in an international setting so as to offer a different perspective into community health practices and to promote cultural competency. Based on our experience with service–learning, we identified four faculty roles in developing these types of projects. We define these roles as initiator, collaborator, facilitator, and advocate. This article will discuss the application of these faculty roles in developing service–learning opportunities with students.