The 2009 conference is hosted by The Science Shop, Queen's University Belfast

 

BRIDGING THE TOWN-GOWN DIVIDE IN AN URBAN SETTING:
CREATING COMMUNITY-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH
AN APPLIED SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER

Public Institutions of Higher Education in the United States are facing a number of challenges in areas such as funding, massive growth in enrolment, and competition from for-profit (often on-line) institutions.  An increasingly important challenge concerns the role of University Faculty research in addressing problems within civic society.  In this paper, we present as a case study the work of an applied sociological research center at a medium-sized urban university in Florida.  This center has been successful in combining the academic and service components of the university’s mission with applied and more traditional academic research. 

Over the past 15 years, nearly $3.5 million has been obtained in applied contract research, involving a dozen faculty members, with over 80 students (undergraduate and graduate) employed on research projects and over 900 student volunteers participating.  Typically, research team members work directly with persons affected by the research to ensure community participation.  Of particular interest for this paper is the effort to integrate research projects into classroom based learning activities and into community service based learning processes. 

Over the past several years the Director has offered Community Research and Service Learning classes in which students work directly with agencies that provide services to homeless persons as well as conducting in-depth research on the causes and consequences of homelessness.  In addition, the university has placed a special emphasis on integrating community engagement, research and service across the curriculum and the Center for Community Initiatives is poised to play a major role in this effort.

Theme:

Engaging students in community based research

 

Names of Presenters:

Jeffry A. Will, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Director

Tracy Milligan, MS, Assistant Director of Research Services

Institution:

Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives

University of North Florida

 

Presenters Biography:

Dr. Jeffry A. Will is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives.  Jeffry joined the UNF faculty in 1993.  He earned his masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  In 1994 Dr. Will, along with Drs. Charles E. Owens and Henry Camp, established the Northeast Florida Center for?Community Initiatives (CCI) to provide research and evaluation support for agencies and communities throughout the region and the nation.  Since? ts foundation CCI has been responsible?for more than $3 million in research contracts and grants. 

Dr. Will's primary areas of research concern poverty, inequality and public policy. He has authored or co-authored two books, fifteen refereed?articles and book chapters, more than 4 dozen Applied Sociology Reports, and?presented over three-dozen research papers since 1990.  Dr. Will also served as President of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology from 2007-2008. He is currently serving as Chair of the American Sociological Associations Section on?Sociological Practice and Public Sociology, and is the Chair of?the Southern Sociological Society’s Committee on the Status of Students.

In addition to his work at UNF, Dr. Will was on the Board of Directors for the Clara White Mission. He has served on the Advisory Board for the Health Care for the Homeless Clinics in Jacksonville and has worked as a consultant and coordinator for the annual Homeless Census and Survey in Jacksonville from 1994 - 2000, and from 2006 to present.