In 1996, Dr. Dale Brougher, then Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Associate Professor of Religion, spearheaded a Community Service Committee within the structure of the College of Liberal Arts to explore the possibilities of service and engagement on The University of Findlay campus. Dr. Brougher invited Maile Doyle, then director of the United Way of Findlay/Hancock County’s Volunteer Center, to help shape a vision of service for the campus community. Through much deliberation, the Community Service Committee concluded that the group would structurally function to model a non-profit board in order to encourage maximum community engagement with the service initiative. The group then elected Ms. Doyle and Dr. Brougher as the first co-chairs of the newly formed Campus Compact Board which was charged with providing leadership, vision, support, advice, and a strategic plan to the service program in order to integrate a philosophy of service into the life of the campus community.

In 1998, UF joined the Ohio Campus Compact and National Campus Compact and subsequently The University of Findlay Campus Compact Office was created. The first part-time director of the office was Molly Tyson, a graduate of The University of Findlay and then an intern on campus. During her tenure from 1999-2000, she greatly forwarded the goals and objectives of the Campus Compact Strategic Plan.

In the spring of 2000, Dr. Jeanette Drake’s Public Relations Practices and Writing courses worked to develop an identity for the Campus Compact Office. Through these service learning courses, Campus Compact created its familiar logo incorporating the Griffith Memorial Arch as a gateway to the community and the slogan “Strengthening Ourselves Through Service” which continues to describe the program’s mission.

Hiring Dr. Wayne Sneath as the first full-time director of Campus Compact in November, 2000 showed a significant commitment by the university to the theory and practice of service learning, community service, and civic engagement. In 2001, Dr. Sneath changed the title of the office to the Campus Compact Center for Service and Learning to reflect the evolving structure of the service initiative. Crystal Jones was hired as the Campus Compact Coordinator in the Fall of 2006.

To the present, Crystal Jones and the Campus Compact Board work to support the objectives of the Campus Compact Office with the belief that learning through service will benefit the individual as well as the community in lasting ways.