Andrew Furco of the University of California, Berkeley is the recipient of the 2003 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Service-Learning Research. The award, which was presented at the 3rd Annual International Conference on Service-Learning Research in Salt Lake City, Utah recognizes an individual who has made significant research contributions to the K-12 and higher education service-learning fields. Dr. Shelley Billig, Vice President of RMC Research, a leading service-learning researcher, presented the award to Furco. In her presentation, Billig stated, "Andy, your work is frequently cited as being foundational and used as a model of quality. Every field needs giants - figurative or literal - and you are one of the best. Thank you so much for all you do to advance service-learning research and to improve education in the U.S."

Throughout his career as a service-learning researcher, Furco has continued to pave the way for the production of higher quality research in the service-learning field. As the founding Director of UC Berkeley's Service-Learning Research and Development Center - the nation's first university-based research center to focus its research exclusively on service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education - Furco has pushed for more and better service-learning research. A number of his articles, including "Establishing Norms for Scientific Inquiry in Service-Learning" (2002, co-written with Billig) and "Establishing a National Center for for Research to Systematize the Study of Service-Learning" (2000), have called for the production of higher quality research that can more fully unpack the complexities of service-learning study and practice. As early as 1997, Furco proposed the establishment on a National Center for Service-Learning Research, which would be guided by the strict application of the principles of scientific inquiry and qualified peer review, factors that Furco believes are not as strong as they should be in the service-learning field. Early on in his career, Furco saw the need to build a community of scholars among service-learning researchers and boldy agreed to host the nation's first conference on service-learning research, which was held at UC Berkeley in October 2001. This ground breaking event provided one of the first organized venues for service-learning  researchers to share their research and receive peer review. Despite taking place only a few short weeks after the events of 9/11, the conference still drew more than 300 participants from across the United States and abroad.

In reflecting on receiving the 2003 Research Award, Furco notes, "It was truly an honor for me to receive the award, especially to have the opportunity to accept it at the 3rd Annual Conference on Service-Learning Research. Knowing that the conference we hosted in 2001 has now become an annual event is truly gratifying. And receiving the award from Shelley Billig, one of the nation's most outstanding service-learning researchers, was truly special for me."

Professor Furco's research has focused on investigations of experiential learning, civic engagement, and service-learning at both the K-12 and higher education levels. His research on K-12 service-learning has focused on a variety of issues related to pedagogy, educational policy, and school reform. His study of the impacts of different forms of service activities (community service, service-learning, and service-based internships) on high school students helped reveal that there are indeed very few notable differences in how the various forms of service affect students' academic, social, personal, civic, ethical, and vocational development. Among his other research on K-12 service-learning is a three-year statewide study of California's K-12 service-learning, in which he helped identify some of the essential elements necessary to sustain and institutionalize a statewide K-12 service-learning initiative.

In higher education, Professor Furco is best known for his work on service-learning institutionalization. Furco spent four years (1998-2002) as one of Campus Compact's Engaged Scholars, studying the ways in which colleges and universities approach the process of service-learning institutionalization. This work resulted in the development of the Furco Rubric for Institutionalizing Service-Learning in Higher Education, which has been used by more than 200 colleges and universities in the United States and aboard to measure the institutions' level of service-learning institutionalization. His forthcoming book, Institutionalizing Service-Learning in Higher Education, which will be published by Anker Publishing in the Fall 2004, presents a complete analysis of the components and dimensions that comprise service-learning institutionalization.

Over the last few years, Furco's work has extended to an international audience. He has presented his research at service-learning conferences in Argentina and Germany and his work has been applied to the development of service-learning activities in Chile, Canada, South Africa, and Singapore. Currently, Furco serves on several national, state, and local boards pertaining to civic engagement and service-learning including the National Review Board for the Scholarship of Engagement, the AAHE Service-Learning Consulting Corps, and the National Service-Learning Partnership Board of Directors.