Everything is Service

I was having a casual conversation with a student, and she asked me what a professor does apart from teaching. I gave the standard answer that most academics give -“Our work falls into three broad categories - Teaching, Research, and Service.”

She replied - “Isn’t teaching a form of service as well?” The question got me thinking, and made me introspect my motivations for the work I do as an academic.

“Service”, as the name suggests, is service to the university. It includes tasks such as taking part in administrative duties and being involved in university committees. Through these acts of service, we have the opportunity to be actively involved in institution building and shaping the culture of the university. The “Service” component also involves service to one’s academic community, and includes tasks such as reviewing research articles and being part of conference committees.

But what about teaching? If you think about it, teaching is also a form of service - you serve students by teaching concepts, skills and competencies to them with the hope that they will apply these learnings in meaningful ways in the future.

Can research also be considered as service? Although the current state of research and publishing practices is not very encouraging (with predatory journals and publishing primarily for promotions and tenure), one should ideally approach research with the service mindset. The goal of our research should be to serve the scientific community by sharing innovations and discoveries that take the field forward, and contribute back to society.

In that sense, any (legitimate) occupation or vocation (not only teaching) is a form of service. When someone asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Loving one’s neighbour” in the context of our vocation involves using our expertise to serving our clients’/customers’/stakeholders’ needs. If we occasionally remind ourselves of this service mindset, I believe our work will be much more purpose-driven and satisfying.