This commentary is by Bill Falls, dean of the UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences. While most people will agree that the primary mission of a university is to educate its students, I strongly believe that universities also have an obligation to serve their communities. Service is not just a noble gesture: It is a calling, a responsibility and a privilege. It defines our humanity and embodies our deepest values and the essence of what it means to be part of something greater than ourselves. That’s why, in the UVM College of Arts and Sciences, supporting our community is central to our mission and is deeply integrated into our approach to education and knowledge sharing.  The primary way in which the College demonstrates this commitment to service is through our robust internship program. Each year, we place hundreds of students in internships with community organizations, local government and businesses throughout the state. These internships give students valuable work experience and, at the same time, lend our community one of the College’s most valuable resources: its talented, eager students, who provide critical support during a time when such help may be scarce due to Vermont’s low unemployment rate.  One powerful example of this is the College’s deployment of student reporters around the state through our Community News Service internship. The brainchild of Richard Watts, the internship lets students engage in reporting and storytelling, contributing high-quality content at no cost to many local newspapers — including the Winooski News, the Hinesburg Record and the Herald of Randolph — that might otherwise struggle to stay afloat. This helps fill a crucial gap in the kind of local news coverage that is vital to the civic health of our communities.  At the state level, the College of Arts and Sciences’ Vermont Legislative Research Service and Legislative Internship Program provide service to communities through much-needed research and administrative support to Vermont state legislators. Students in the Vermont Legislative Research Service, under the guidance of political science professors Jack Gierzynski and Doc Bradley, provide non-partisan policy research (on topics identified by the legislators) that is critical for making well-informed policy decisions.  With the support and guidance of program director Liz First Raddock, students in the Legislative Internship Program are matched with Vermont legislators and provide them with valuable support in tasks such as tracking and summarizing complicated bills, managing social media and writing press releases and letters. In both programs, faculty work closely with students to ensure high-quality work and a valuable experience for both students and legislators. With this support in place, legislators can better focus their efforts on supporting their constituents.  College of Arts and Science faculty have also created community-based internships that serve our communities and address important research questions. One such example is Professor Pablo Bose’s Southern Vermont Rural Resettlement Impact Initiative. In partnership with Brattleboro’s World Learning and the Ethiopian Community Development Council, and with a grant from the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, student interns research the impacts of refugee resettlement — on housing, transportation, employment and civic integration — in rural communities in order to inform policy decisions on resettlement at the state and national levels.   In collaboration with the Community-Engaged Learning Office, many College of Arts and Sciences faculty members have created entire courses designed to allow students to pursue community-based projects over an entire semester.  Some recent examples include Professor Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux’s geography and geosciences course in which students worked with the town of Underhill as well as state and federal agencies to create a plan for combating climate change-related challenges to municipal roads and structures; Professor Betsy Hoza’s ongoing series of courses in psychological science in which students work with grade school teachers to implement a physical activity regimen aimed at helping kids function better in and out of school; and Adriana Sanchez-Gutierrez’s Spanish course in which students read Indigenous and Afro-Hispanic tales in Spanish to K–12 students as a way to support their intercultural awareness and global understanding.  Our faculty also serve our community through direct delivery of services. For example, the Department of Psychological Science’s training clinic, Vermont Psychological Services, has been providing outpatient mental health services to the community for over 50 years. The Center for Research on Vermont, housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, supports faculty scholars and experts as they conduct community-based research projects on topics such as gender bias, Lake Champlain, clean energy and more. As the state’s flagship and land grant institution, UVM is charged with serving the state through both education and service. In fact, expanding our service to the state is a priority of UVM’s President Suresh Garimella. The University established both an Office of Engagement and the Leahy Center for Rural Partnerships to support UVM faculty in creating engagement opportunities and partnerships for the benefit of our rural places.  The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to play an important role in serving the state. Our faculty, staff, and students are all deeply committed to addressing local needs through innovation and collaboration, thereby creating a positive and lasting impact on our communities both large and small.  Disclosure: VTDigger has a media partnership with the Community News Service. Read the story on VTDigger here: Bill Falls: UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences at work in the community.