People Athletics/Intramurals

Community and Public Service

Each year, approximately 3,000 Stanford students (logging more than 96,000 volunteer hours!) engage in public and community service outreach initiatives.

The Haas Center for Public Service is a central resource for service opportunities, a national model for the integration of academic and service activities offering more than 600 volunteer, internship and research opportunities. The center’s portfolio of public service opportunities spans the spectrum from direct human services to policy and advocacy, touching virtually all of the university’s schools, academic departments, centers and programs. The center makes the opportunity to serve available to all students regardless of financial situation, academic interest or political persuasion. Indeed, Stanford leads the nation’s top universities in using federal work-study money for community service. At Stanford, service informs scholarship and vice versa. As a student’s knowledge, skills and experience evolve, so do the levels at which he or she is able to engage societal challenges such as poverty, civil rights, education, health and justice.


Katie Noyes and Jennie Liu take a midday breather from leading an Alternative Spring Break trip "Homelessness in the Bay Area." Noyes, Liu and a dozen other students spent a week meeting with government officials, visiting service agencies and serving meals to the homeless.


More than 70 voluntary community service student organizations, special projects and school-based programs provide undergraduates with additional opportunities to serve. Stanford’s eight community centers and four cross-cultural theme houses offer outreach programs that provide educational services for disadvantaged youth, language assistance and cultural events.

Related information:

Haas Center for Public Service

List of Stanford's Community Service Organizations

Publication ranks Stanford first in community service
(Stanford Report, 1/16/02)