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Monday, Feb. 08, 2010

Local community the focus of UC Merced task force

Campaign will promote doing research to benefit Merced area.

Some UC Merced researchers have been taking the slogan "Think globally, act locally" to heart.

A new task force made up of eight UC Merced academics and affiliates and three community members is in the early stages of launching a campaign targeted at UC Merced faculty to promote the idea of doing research that benefits the local community.

Jan Wallander, a UC Merced psychology professor and task force member, said that, more and more, there's a push for research to be useful to society.

For example, a UC Merced public health professor could partner with local organizations to study the rise of type two diabetes among teens in Merced or the greater Central Valley.

"This is not the only research a university should do," he added. "There is also research for the sake of knowledge."

This type of socially beneficial research, called Community Engaged Scholarship(CES), is sometimes hard for some academics to perform because of other job-related pressures.

Amy Moffat, a spokeswoman for UC Merced affiliate nonprofit Great Valley Center, said often the emphasis on making tenure keeps some academics from conducting research that serves the local community.

Some professors want to to get published in prestigious journals in hopes of making tenure. That may leave less time for research that directly benefits the surrounding area, Moffat said.

Part of UC Merced's mission is to make a positive impact on the local community, Moffat added.

"I think this is a step toward fulfilling that mission," she said.

UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang set aside $8,000 this semester for the promotion of this type of research.

Some professors at UC Merced are already engaged in CES.

UC Merced anthropology professor, Robin DeLugan is measuring the health of two communities, Planada and South Merced, by measuring the quality of life of their residents.

Instead of using typical indicators of quality of life, such as income level and employment, residents answer a number of questions about their civic engagement and how connected they feel to their community.

So far, her preliminary research shows that residents of Planada have a greater feeling of social cohesion than residents of South Merced, she said.

However, in comparison to a similar study of Chicago residents, people in South Merced feel more socially connected than those in the Midwestern city.

There are a lot of gaps in data when it comes to rural unincorporated communities and even urban neighborhoods, DeLugan said.

This research should hone in on those overlooked intricacies of communities in hopes of improving them.

Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com.