Promoting Collaborative Partnerships

Ellen Percy Kraly, Director, Upstate Institute

Colgate University

Madison County Department of Health

9 April 2008

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

This afternoons conversation is about…

Promoting Collaborative Partnerships

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

The mission of the Upstate Institute

The mission of the Institute is to create linkages between Colgate University and the regional community to engage students, faculty, staff and residents in research and a reciprocal transfer of knowledge that will enhance the economic, social and cultural capacity of the area and sustain the environment. These projects provide a model of community collaboration and civic engagement for our students and within higher education.  The Institute values scholarly collaboration as a way to support the region.

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Upstate Institute – a long tradition, a recent history

• Initiatives in Hamilton, New York• COVE 2001• Inventory of faculty interest: our most

valuable resource!• Utica Field School summer 2003• UI launched Spring of 2004• Formal launch by Senator Hillary Clinton

in April 2004• Strategic planning and organizational

structure in summer of 2004• Field School launched in summer of 2004• Strategic Planning university wide

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Upstate Institute strategies:

1.Research concerning the upstate New York region

2.Community-based research3.Skills for community development4. Create opportunities for dialogue

on issues concerning the region;5. Build capacity within the region.

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

1. Promote scholarship on the region

1. The Upstate Institute supports and promotes faculty and student research on the region and creates a scholarly community for those interested in Upstate New York.

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Faculty Research SymposiumSaturday, April 26, Ho Interdisciplinary Sciences Center

Charles Pete Banner-Haley, Associate Professor History/African American Studies

Advancing the Community: An Overview of African American Networks in Upstate New York, 1890-1990

Frank Frey, Assistant Professor of BiologyTim McCay, Associate Professor Biology

Natural History Museum of the Chenango Valley – Phase I

Meika Loe, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Women's Studies Program

How do community-based institutions and individuals living in Albany and Hamilton, NY, create support around aging?  

William B. Meyer, Visiting Lecturer in Geography Syracuse Salt: The Life and Times of a Natural Resource

William H. Peck, Department of Geology Carbon Isotopes of Historical Maple Syrup Collections: A

Unique Record of Long-Term Sugar Bush Health

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

2. Community Based Research

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

2. Community Based Research

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

UI Summer Field School

Summer Field SchoolStudents work with a community organization 35 hours

per week for 10 weeks– Skill development seminar series

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Field School Curriculum

Strategic planningGrant writingPanel of regional journalistsPanel of local business ownersDefining poverty in Madison CountyLocal farm tour

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

The VITA programStudent Philanthropy CouncilUpstate Law Project

Legal Aid Services of Mid-New YorkSocial Security claims for disabled childrenPreparation of bankruptcy interviews and pleads

3. Skill development: Service learning courses Co-curricular seminars

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

4. Promote dialogue on regional issues

Facilitate conversation on regional issuesEducate students and campus community about benefits of community collaboration

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

5. Contribute to building capacity in the region

Strategic planning GrantsmanshipAssessment

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Collaboration

Identify:Participants

partnershipsand stakeholders

And invite these folks to the table!

Learn about each otherand celebrate diversity!Develop common connections to

the task

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Partnerships!

1. Reciprocity2. Respect3. Realistic4. Reflective5. Research6. Routine7. Radar8. Review9. Reward10.Recharge

Relationships!

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Promoting…Promotion

Reflect on existing relationships

Build from strengthsIdentify new opportunities

for connections

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Promoting…Promotion

Reflect on existing relationships

Build from strengths

Identify new opportunities for connections

Chuck Fluharty, Rural Policy Research Institute, has suggested that community leaders in rural areas:

‘…combine urban thinking with rural sustainability, and New York is a great place to start!’

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

So…. If today’s conversations is about:

PromotingCollaborative Partnerships

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

“Nothing will ever be accomplished if all possible objections must first be overcome”

Samuel Johnson

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

“Do what you can, with what you have, where your are”

Theodore Roosevelt

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

“Let’s not tinker around the edges!”

Chuck FluhartyRural Policy Research Institute

Upstate Institute at Colgate University

Today’s conversations are about:

PromotingCollaborative Partnerships… and perhaps, possibly … some plans and solutions… creative experimentation… the middle, not at the

edges!