MU goes to CUMU
Marquette’s first cohort sent to a national conference for urban universities demonstrates the growth of community-engaged research on campus.
By Allison Dikanovic and Abby Ng
A biologist, a political scientist, a psychologist, an education counselor, and a few university administrators boarded a plane headed to Washington, D.C. together.
Though it was a fun bunch, this is not a comedic setup. Rather it describes the exceptional delegation that Marquette University sent to the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) conference last fall, where the representatives had the opportunity to interact across departments, present their research to peer institutions, and learn from the ways that urban universities across the country are building stronger partnerships with their surrounding communities.
As the largest nationwide meeting of its kind, the CUMU Conference brought movers and shakers from across disciplines and from a wide array of urban institutions together in hopes of exchanging ideas about and learning from the unique challenges and advantages that come with being positioned in a city. For the first time, Marquette sent a cohort of faculty, staff, and administrators to join this national conversation.
“I realized what a unique context we’re working in as urban universities, which was thrilling,” said Lisa Edwards, Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology. “It’s something that’s very special about Marquette, and I’d never been at a conference before where that was highlighted.”
“We have a long history of being connected to urban spaces,” said Amber Wichowsky, Assistant Professor of Political Science. “We can’t tout that as our mission if we don’t practice it in our community.”
Attendees explored the role that universities like Marquette can play in their communities like Milwaukee, as well as the role that cities can play in students’ growth. Presentations focused on how partnerships can coalesce teaching, learning, and research to contribute positively to the places that universities call home, shattering the stigma of an ivory tower.
“The people there from other universities did not want their institutions to be islands within an urban context, which is what I know that Marquette doesn’t want to be,” said Edwards. “They actually wanted to be well-integrated with the community, so it was nice being around people with a similar vision.”
In addition to learning from and networking with those at other institutions, the Marquette delegation shared the unique opportunity of building stronger cross-disciplinary relationships among each other.
“It brought each of us faculty members out of our offices and got us to talk to each other and learn about what each of us are doing in the community,” said Edwards.
“It was fitting that while we were talking about breaking down silos and building bridges, the conference was a huge bridge-building activity itself, between departments and between me as faculty and with administration,” added Michael Schlappi Associate Professor of Biological Sciences. “Being able to eat together, work together and hang out together was invaluable.”
Each of these faculty members are leading or developing research initiatives that are driven by community partnerships.
According to Lucas Torres, Associate Professor of Psychology, these projects seek sustainable and symbiotic relationships with local organizations or residents that improve both the outcome for those conducting as well as those participating in the research. “The main goal is to conduct research with partners that is more equitable and mutually beneficial,” he said.
“I think community-engaged research is essential,” said Torres. “It has a direct impact on the daily lives of these individuals that we’re looking to partner with.”
Marquette’s presentations stretched from reimagining how to study community health to how to grow new crops in an urban environment, serving as a testament to the breadth and depth of community-engaged research that is happening on our own campus.
From Office to Innovation: Faculty Developing Infrastructure for Community Partnerships
Edwards and Torres presented together on the process they went through to co-develop the Latina/o Wellbeing Research Initiative at Marquette.
“What we’re trying to do is gather community members and academics together to answer pressing questions about the Latino community and to promote wellbeing,” said Edwards.
“Our goal is really to connect in a more transparent and collaborative way,” added Torres.
They have gone about doing this by flipping some of their traditional research methods, consulting community partner organizations on the front end of the research development process rather than after a project is already conceptualized or started.
At CUMU, their presentation focused on the first steps in how to develop these collaborative relationships, the model by which they approached community partners, and the way they established the infrastructure by which this research will be conducted.
“We talked more about the process of your average faculty member trying to figure out how to build a collaboration like this that will have a positive impact on multiple communities, Milwaukee and Marquette, in a synergy with each other.”
Edwards and Torres said the unique venue yielded specific and helpful advice from colleagues across the country that helped them reevaluate and fine tune aspects of their project as they carried on.
Urban Agriculture Initiatives: Undergraduate Student Research Opportunities and Economic Revitalization
Schlappi’s project that he brought to CUMU engages Marquette students and Milwaukee community members around the idea of growing rice in Wisconsin.
With the help of student research assistants, he has researched varieties of rice crops, figured out how to grow rice in the Midwest, tested it out with a rooftop garden at Marquette, and is partnering with local community gardens and farmers markets to teach local farmers and community members how to produce and sell rice for themselves.
“I was a little bit of a fish out of water [at the conference] because my work has such a strong science component, but, for me, it was really valuable,” he said.
Despite feeling pushed out of his element, Schlappi said that presenting at CUMU was a beneficial time spent out of the lab that helped propel his project further, while learning from what other universities are doing in the area of urban agriculture and addressing food insecurity.
“It was very valuable in terms of the bridge-building and also to be able to speak a language that I wasn’t aware of,” he said of the different rhetoric and jargon that was used to talk about community engagement.
Schlappi’s project is evolving from biological research into a community partnership that offers opportunity for economic development through increased urban agriculture. He is continuing to develop the business model for growing rice in Milwaukee alongside his partners at different gardens and markets and said that CUMU is a network of institutions to support him in this endeavor.
Prospect for Change: Lessons from an Anchor Institution-Community Collaboration in Milwaukee
Wichowsky presented alongside Dan Bergen, the executive director of Marquette’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE), about the Near West Side Partners and Marquette’s role in this partnership.
They spoke about several different dimensions of the project, including the Promoting Assets Reducing Crime (PARC) initiative. The actions that PARC take are driven by responses from community surveys done with local residents, students and employees in the Near West Side.
“The way that I think about conducting my research is informed by what I learn from residents in our community,” Wichowsky said.
The data from resident surveys address the community member’s perceptions and priorities in their neighborhood, as well as what types of interventions and redevelopments they would like to see. The results have directly contributed to the organization of community clean ups and a “lighting challenge” to come up with better ways to light up streets.
Wichowsky said she felt proud presenting her work at CUMU as well as while watching the rest of the Marquette cohort present their research and that she left feeling inspired.
“We’re doing some really amazing stuff when it comes to community-engaged and community-based research,” she said of what’s happening at Marquette. “We certainly have a lot to bring to this conference.”
Edwards agreed.
“I think Marquette is in a really exciting time and place,” she said. “We’re starting to think strategically about a lot of different things that are going to have impact on our communities, that are going to propel us forward as a university.”
Universities and Communities: A Reciprocal Relationship for Understanding and Improvement
Reflecting the growth of Marquette faculty members conducting community-engaged research, the cohort for CUMU 2017 on Oct. 9 through 11 is over double the size of last year’s.
Included in this year’s cohort is Cedric Burrows, Assistant Professor of English. His research focuses on how African American rhetoric is perceived by mainstream culture and how that rhetoric impacts a city and community.
Burrows and Bergen will co-present “The White Shadow: Urban Settings, Race, and Community Engagement” — the presentation will consider the ways in which whiteness impacts how predominantly white institutions located in cities connect with the more racially diverse communities of which they are a part.
“It was surprising for me to see there was a disconnect with the community and [Marquette] university,” Burrows said. “When we work with neighborhoods, research should be reciprocal. It should not be a relationship where one dictates to the community how they should do certain things. We should work with the community and let community members dictate what goes on around them.”
Aleksandra Snowden, Assistant Professor of Social and Cultural Sciences, who researches Milwaukee crime in relation to the availability of alcohol, is in agreement with Burrows.
“As a researcher who looks at aggregate effects on a city as a whole, it is easy to miss the nuances in neighborhoods. To better understand the dynamics of crime and its causes, it’s important to have understanding on the ground of what really goes on in communities,” Snowden said. “What do communities think is the most pressing need? Collaborating with community organizations informs my research, makes me a better teacher, and makes me a better Milwaukee citizen.”
CUMU 2017 will be Snowden’s first time attending the conference, and she expressed her excitement to connect with educators and researchers from across the country.
“I’m hoping to learn from others about how to continue not only community engaged teaching, but how urban universities can work with communities to answer the issues that affect the city.”
