That undergraduate students have a 100-hour volunteer service requirement is not new. However, it’s important to note they are not left on their own to figure out how to complete this requirement. Two Jindal School organizations work together to help undergraduate students fulfill this obligation. Dr. Dorothee Honhon, Jindal School associate dean for sustainability and societal impact, is chair of the school’s community outreach committee. That committee’s goal is to create positive impacts in the community and organize community-based projects for faculty, staff, students and alumni.

In the Jindal School’s Undergraduate Programs office, Angela Granger is in charge of the UTDServ program, the initiative in which students earn their 100 volunteer hours. She tracks these hours and also organizes opportunities with community partners for students.

(The UTDServ Voyagers is a new program this year that Granger oversees. A story about its inaugural trips is on the previous page.)

“Some students need guidance on where to volunteer,” Granger said. “Pairing with Dr. Honhon’s community outreach mission gives our students a time and place to volunteer. These events are a way for students to complete their volunteer requirement and, if faculty are involved, a way to meet faculty in a setting other than the classroom.”

Recently students completed volunteer work for two organizations with similar missions: Feed My Starving Children (international) and the North Texas Food Bank (local). In both cases, faculty and students packed food boxes for needy families.

“Doing these activities benefits the community we serve, of course,” Honhon said. “But for the faculty volunteers, participating in “societal impact” activities can have research and teaching benefits also. Professors might make new industry connections and get research ideas on how to address real-world business challenges around ethical and sustainable practices. Especially for nonprofits, donors want the confidence that their contributions are making a difference in the populations being served, and research can help validate those outcomes.”

Zain Ashraf, a BS/Finance major from Austin, engages regularly on campus with Comet Cupboard, used by food insecure students, and the UTD Military and Veteran Center. “Volunteering gives students a realization and appreciation of their own contributions to society,” he said. “A lot of students, including myself, often underestimate their own abilities and individual impact, and I think that volunteering brings some understanding that we all have a role to play.” He recently went to Feed My Starving Children to pack food boxes.

“What I like best about volunteering is coming together with people who share a common goal, but are from various different backgrounds, places and stages in life, which allows me to learn more about my community,” he said. “There’s always something I can learn from the people I interact with.”

Honhon, who is the Jindal School associate dean for sustainability and societal impact, said these activities are planned under the societal impact portion of her portfolio. “I partner with nonprofits in the area. We come as a group, representing the Jindal School, to help the community. At some of these events, if allowed by the nonprofit, family members, including kids, are welcome. We help others and at the same time, it ends up being a teambuilding event as well.”