At Minnesota State University, Mankato, the Anthropology Department pursued service‐learning as a means of educating and engaging diverse publics. An assessment of the service‐learning program began after it became clear that standard course evaluations provided an inadequate assessment of service‐learning's efficacy. We employed a mixed‐ method, multiperspective approach, combining interview data gathered from students, faculty, community partners, and program coordinators to complement existing archival and survey data. Through these interviews and participant observation, we explore the pedagogy of service‐learning, its effectiveness, and the relationship among anthropological theory and practice. Our research identified three forms of value regarding student and community partner motivation. Additionally, we consider the role of culture in what constitutes value. One emergent theme, “realness,” was vital for enhancing student outcomes through providing embodied examples of concepts and practical experience in field methods. Service‐learning enhances comprehension through practical application, demonstrating the relevance of anthropology while improving students’ learning outcomes.

Service learning represents a key intersection between the academy and the community. Institutions give back to the community through this work done by student hands, which bolsters university brands, as institutions attempt to meet external expectations. Despite the value being provided to colleges and universities through service learning, critical analyses of institutions are underrepresented in the literature. We, therefore, chose here to “study up” and direct our focus to the institution itself. This multi-method approach builds upon previous research with students, faculty, and community partners. We examine communications and materials produced by Minnesota State University, Mankato. Additionally, we interview policymakers within the university who influenced the current trajectory of service learning, as it has descended from an institutional focus to a division of community engagement.

In Spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced university instructors across the United States to confront the daunting task of quickly changing their courses from face-to-face to remote instruction. Nationally, universities relied on virtual platforms as they adjusted educational spaces in response to the pandemic. While there have been many anecdotes of how individual faculty responded to this transition, social scientists have yet to study systematically how instructors handled this transition. This article presents and analyzes data from semi-structured interviews with non-tenure-track social science faculty to understand how they handled the change to remote teaching after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzes these interviews by drawing on intersecting perspectives from the anthropology of disaster, anthropology of education, and digital anthropology. We argue the transition to online teaching presented new challenges and opportunities to instructors as people coping with novel health concerns, family obligations, and space-time changes. Simultaneously, this change created pedagogical issues related to continuity of instruction, classroom presence, and emotional labor. We conclude with recommendations and directions for future research.