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In Dartmouth’s Department of Computer
Sciences, local middle schoolers gather for a free summer robotics camp
with Dartmouth students and faculty mentors. In biological sciences, a
professor works with undergraduates to create a Web-based “visual dictionary”
of genomics, suitable for a broad range of audiences. In a U.S.
Congressional hearing, a Tuck School
of Business professor provides expert testimony on peer-to-peer
file-sharing. At Thayer School of
Engineering, a professor co-sponsors a seminar to update regional high-tech
workers on developments in this rapidly advancing field.
Students from Hartford High School visit Dartmouth to learn computer-enhanced
light microscopy under the guidance of Professor of Biological Sciences Roger
Sloboda (rear) and Teaching Lab Special Instructor Corinne Pierce (blue shirt).
(Photo by Joseph Mehling ’69)
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All these are examples of how Dartmouth shares academic knowledge and
resources with the wider world, to the benefit of all parties. In a growing
trend, faculty on campuses across the country are being urged to take an active
role in translating new knowledge into use.
Increasingly, government agencies and private foundations alike are
requiring researchers to include plans for outreach in their grant
applications. “The outreach component of a research proposal is becoming
increasingly important,” says Martin
Wybourne, vice president for research. “Funding agencies are interested to
know how research outcomes will feed back to society.”
Faculty now can get help with outreach projects from a new Office of Outreach,
jointly funded by the Office of the Provost
and the academic deans, and staffed by Nancy Serrell, the new director of
outreach. The office was created last September as a pilot program, subject to
review after three years.
Serrell’s position was created in part in response to a four-year, $1.5
million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute (HHMI) that Dartmouth received to enhance science education for
undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students. Along with funding new
courses, lab equipment, and training opportunities for students from the
undergraduate level up, the grant included an outreach component: an in-school
“science camp” in which Dartmouth students at all levels are trained by
Montshire Museum science educators to lead weekly hands-on lessons for students
in the Rivendell school district. “HHMI wants to see outreach programs
developed with their funding continue beyond the grant period,” says Roger
Sloboda, the Ira Allen Eastman Professor and principal investigator on the HHMI
grant. “Funders want to see systemic change at an institution as a result of
their support.”
Through conversations with faculty and administrators, Wybourne and Serrell
found that faculty were engaged in a range of outreach projects but were eager
for support and facilitation.
Faculty members can call upon the outreach office to identify partners—in
education, public policy, social service or the private sector—who might
benefit from faculty research and scholarship. They can also get help with
designing ways of sharing knowledge that are efficient and easy to manage,
finding on-campus resources and partners to help, and evaluating their
programs.
“The biggest part of Nancy’s job is trying to match a faculty member with an
appropriate outreach opportunity,” says Wybourne. “You can’t fit square pegs
into round holes. One faculty member might be very interested in working with
K-12 education. Another might not be but might be drawn to partnering with
government or community groups.”
Serrell was formerly the director for outreach and translation in
Dartmouth’s Toxic Metals Research Program and associate director of outreach
for the Center for Environmental Health Sciences. She has helped bring faculty
expertise to bear on a number of environmental health issues in the region,
such as mercury in fish, arsenic in drinking water, lead poisoning, and the
contamination of the former Elizabeth Mine in Strafford, Vt. Dartmouth students
participated in these programs, which also involved collaborations with
community groups, state health and environmental agencies, Vermont Law School,
the University of New Hampshire, and legislative groups. Serrell also helped in
the HHMI grant outreach by recruiting Dartmouth students and directing an
evaluation after the first year.
“What is important about outreach is to communicate to society the benefit
of the scholarship in which Dartmouth faculty and students are engaged,” says
Wybourne. He adds, “This is a two-way street. Yes, we’re communicating what we
do to different constituencies, but we’re also listening to them, and some of
that feedback will influence scholarship.”
By REBECCA BAILEY
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