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UML Community-University
Advisory
Board
COPC Community-University Advisory Board – Is
a group of more than twenty community and university representatives that guide
the Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) and the University in the
accomplishment of goals – mainly to further the University’s commitment to
establishing Community-University partnerships. Many of the members of that
Board became important partners in continuing those partnerships as well as
initiated innovative work in the community.
For several years, the University has had an “Industry
Advisory Board” made up of representatives from private businesses that
increase the University’s understanding of how the University can contribute to
development and enhancement of regional economic development. For example,
many of the agenda items include training and education of students,
development of new technologies or research that can help to guide economic
development.
We realized that a complementary “Community Advisory Board”
would provide a forum for exchange about what future community-university
partnerships should look like. This would also be a mechanism to
institutionalize the University’s commitment to regional economic and social
development while engaging students, faculty and staff in applied community
research and action.
One major step was to set up a process in which
representatives of community organizations and members of the community could
meet with and articulate their needs and ideas to the decision makers at the
university. The newly appointed Provost of UMass Lowell agreed not only to
meet with the group on an ongoing basis but also to bring to the table leaders
at the higher-level policymaking and program development positions at the
university. We have been meeting monthly at the various participating
organizations to promote interaction of the groups but also so that the Provost
and his guests can get first hand exposure to the current staff, activities and
needs of the region’s community organizations
UMass Lowell’s Chancellor William Hogan has developed an
internal task force. comprised of multidisciplinary-department faculty
committee and charged them to look at how the university can better facilitate
partnerships between university and community at all levels and within all
departments. In an Administrative Announcement Chancellor Hogan said: “If we
are to move forward as an institution in our approach to community-university
partnerships, it is time for us to evaluate our successes and identify the
obstacles we face in increasing our strengths in partnerships in all areas of
the university. To this end, I am appointing a short-term task force within
the university that will work in close collaboration with the
Community-University Advisory Board to identify internal mechanisms to
strengthen and promote community-university partnerships Through these
partnerships we as a university will be able to take a more active role in the
consolidated planning process. A report by the twenty-two member task force is
due is in its final reviewing process at this time
The Community University Advisory
Board has come up with eight signature areas of focus for community university
partnership. Click here to find out more
about them.
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