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University Center for Children TUCC Annual Report 2000-2001 6/07/01 Tufts University Center for Children (TUCC) began operation in July 1999, after two years of intensive planning including a series of faculty workshops and a steering committee process under the auspices of Vice Provost June Aprille.. The Center catalyzes and facilitates interdisciplinary research, service, education, training and social action advancing the well-being of children, their families and their communities. TUCC is a resource of and for affiliated faculty with interests in child development, health and policy. TUCC is a critical vehicle for advancing the University mission and strategic plan priorities for educational and scientific excellence, social and civic responsibility inherent in active citizenship, and building synergies among the various schools and campuses of Tufts. Over seventy Tufts faculty members from each of Tufts' six schools participated in the launching of TUCC. Now, in 2001, an electronic list-serve of over 150 faculty, staff and community partners provides basic and regular communication for the growing TUCC network. Inclusion of students in the network has begun, with plans for expansion. The 2000-2001 Steering Committee includes Jeanne Goldberg (Nutrition), Karen Jacobsen (Fletcher, as of 4/00), Deborah Nutter (Fletcher, until 4/00), Gary Patronek (Veterinary), Robert Reece (Medical), Kathy Savesky (Veterinary), Howard Spivak (Medical), Anthi Tsamtsouris (Dental) and Donald Wertlieb (Arts and Sciences), each appointed by their respective school dean. The President's Office provided core funding of $50K for this year's operations; Arts and Sciences contributed an additional $20K, and TUSM another $5K. The remainder of the operating budget of $120K was provided by the Provost's Office, $45K. A wide variety of activities and accomplishments marked this second year of TUCC's operation, a few of which are noted here to illustrate the range of avenues pursued in advancing our mission. More specific details are listed in the attached "What's Happening at TUCC" flier. Goals and objectives for next year are then proposed to conclude this annual report. Activities and Accomplishments Instructional
Innovation. Several initiatives this year illustrate TUCC's commitment
to inter-school collaboration emphasizing building upon the special
features of the Tufts In a second instance, faculty, staff and alumni from TUSVM, Child Development, BSOT and School Psychology developed a highly successful summer course addressing the emerging field of healing natural environments, including therapeutic roles for companion animals. This course promotes synergy across several signature programs of the university and serves as the hub for several related internship and research opportunities to be cultivated in the next several months. It will be offered again in the 2001 Summer Session. In April, we had a "soft opening" of the TUCC Resource Room, a collection of journals, publications, foundation and government reports, internship and funding directories and internet resources collected to complement and enrich existing University library materials and support grant proposal preparation. Launching the TUCC Resource Room was facilitated by a UEPP student fieldwork team cultivating its skills in consultation and non-profit management. Initial student, faculty and alumni response has been very favorable, and publicity in Fall, 2001, should make these valuable resources available to a wider and enthusiastic audience. Other instructional innovations under discussion are a multidisciplinary course on the history of childhood, a certificate program to train professionals for humanitarian relief, and Freshman Advising options such as Windows on Research linking to the United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. A proposal for a new Maternal and Child Health specialization in our Graduate Public Health Program is now under review; the prospect for a strong specialization or join degree option that builds and important bridges among pediatrics and community medicine in Boston, and child development, occupational therapy, and community health in Medford/Somerville well represents the promise of TUCC. Resident physicians from the Family Medicine training program were engaged in guided observation workshops at the Eliot-Pearson Children's School as we develop innovative curriculum proposals for enhancing the quality of physician education and interprofessional collaboration. TUCC continues to be an increasingly consulted resource as students seek academic year, summer, and post-grad internship placements, with this service likely to be greatly enhanced with the opening of the TUCC Resource Room, noted earlier. As part of our Advocacy Center initiative, TUCC will participate in hosting former Vice President Gore for his teaching at Tufts in a Family-Centered Community Development seminar in 2002. These innovations connect faculty from several schools to undergraduate, graduate and professional students in new and important ways. Research and Training in Health and Youth Development. TUCC collaborates with partners from TUSM, Nutrition, A&S, and Fletcher in implementing a $950K HHS Fogarty Grant to train researchers and clinicians in southern Africa in maternal and child health research. With Community Health in Boston and Medford and the Tufts Institute for the Environment (TIE), with seed funding from U.S. EPA, a university-community-government partnership was launched last Spring to innovate solutions to child environmental health problems. A summit meeting of New England regional commissioners of public health, housing and environmental protection; NGO's: and faculty scholars aims to create an agenda for "Healthy Families/Healthy Schools/Healthy Communities," galvanizing action on behalf of children and creating meaningful service learning opportunities for Tufts students. A $2M proposal to NSF for a collaborative Center for the Study of Youth Serving Community-University Partnerships was submitted in June. TUCC is poised to coordinate an application to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Oral Health Initiative, soon to be announced. Professional Development Workshops, Conferences and University-wide Speaker Series. TUCC co-sponsored numerous events this year ranging from department-based colloquia opened to a broader TUCC audience, to an international symposium on "Building Healthy Communities for Children and Families", to a multi-campus celebration of the Martin Luther King anniversary, "Cultivating Generations for Peace," to our own annual TUCC conference, this year featuring a panel of Tufts faculty in nutrition, community health, pediatrics, child labor, international famine relief, and child development on the topic of "Children in Crisis: Overcoming Risk and Fostering Resiliency." In addition to informing each other about important scholarship, service and instructional activities, conference objectives emphasized the identification and nurturing of collaborations with a focus on specific funding opportunities under the new National Science Foundation Children's Research Initiative. These events enrich the intellectual environment of the university in significant ways as well as advance key missions in improving internal and external communication about Tufts strengths and potentials. Ultimately, these experiences should translate into increasing success in competition for federal and foundation financial support. Networking,
Communications and Clearinghouse Functions. TUCC responds to the
expressed need of the faculty for more and better communication,
both collegial and fundraising, as a basis for higher quality
teaching, research and inter-school collaboration. Our monthly
TUCC e-News alerts the TUCC community to current events, consultation
needs and opportunities, funding opportunities and requests for
proposals. Presently in development is the TUCC Web Page that
will enhance communication further and establish virtual and real-time
discussion capacity so that work groups can increase their efficiency.
In addition, TUCC places high priority upon liaison and information
exchange with both internal and external communities and agencies,
For example, TIE and TUCC collaborate in developing programming
in the important area of child environmental health and in constructing
consistent infrastructure for Tufts' interschool centers; TUCC
holds a seat on the Faculty Advisory Board of the new University
College for Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS); and, for instance,
consultations with the University Partnership for Infant Toddler
Professionals, Massachusetts Campus Compact, Fourth World Movement,
Academy for Educational Development, and W.T. Grant Foundation,
etc., identify and advance mutual interests.
A great deal of activity and initiative has characterized the past year; next year will see both elaboration and focus as we establish priorities with the benefit of the experience of the first years of organizing and launching TUCC. Those activities most consistent with the mission, most likely to be sustainable as benefits to collaborating schools or departments, and most likely to be particularly suited to the TUCC structure will emerge as foci and priorities. More significant inclusion of students and a stronger, more diversified TUCC grant portfolio will be among initial goals. A top priority will be to establish a stable and adequate funding base, counting on demonstration of value and viability to the school deans and development officers. The Development Office has committed staff and funds to the publication of a case statement building on our successful steering committee retreat last fall, finally giving TUCC an opportunity to be included in organized fundraising strategies. Cultivation of a very promising partnership with UCCPS and management of leadership transitions within TUCC and at several levels of the University are key challenges and opportunities in the next months. We look forward to a highly productive future.
Donald
Wertlieb |
