UNI Community Service Clearinghouse

The University of Northern Iowa is offering an opportunity for enhanced collaboration and communication between UNI and the community. This is the creation of the UNI College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Community Service Clearinghouse. 

At UNI, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences encompasses a variety of disciplines and programs that address important social and political issues that affect our society and our world today. This college includes the following departments and programs:

• Department of Geography
• Department of History
• Department of Political Science
• Department of Psychology
• Department of Social Work
• Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology
• School of Applied Human Sciences (includes the Counseling, Family Studies, Gerontology, Textiles, and Interior Design programs.)
• Graduate Program in Public Policy (interdisciplinary with other Colleges)
• Women’s and Gender Studies Program (interdisciplinary with other Colleges.)

The College contains approximately 120 faculty members, who have an incredibly broad range of research and service interests. If you would like to find out more about faculty interests and expertise, please go to the College’s web page (www.uni.edu/csbs). This will give you an overview of programs and also provide linkages to the departments’ web pages, which typically list faculty background and interests.

In 2010, the College adopted a strategic plan in which increasing outreach to and communication with the community was listed as an important goal. This goal is also in keeping with the UNI Strategic Plan, which also includes service to the state and community as an important goal. 

In order to achieve this goal, the College is creating a clearinghouse in which faculty skills and interests can be matched with community needs. This clearinghouse will be managed by the Graduate Program in Public Policy.  Community organizations that have particular needs or issues to which they think that faculty expertise might be relevant will be able to complete the attached form, outlining the particular needs that they have. This information will then be circulated to an email distribution list of all College of Social and Behavioral Sciences faculty who have indicated an interest in community service. If there is a faculty member who is interested in the request, then they will contact the agency or organization directly and arrange a meeting to discuss the request. 

Some examples of organizational needs that a faculty member could address might include (but are not limited to):

·         Assistance with research on a policy issue of importance to the organization.

·         Assistance with program design.

·         Assistance with program evaluation.

·         Assistance with organizational strategic planning.

·         Assistance with preparing grants or other funding requests.

As we launch into this experiment in collaboration and communication, there are some important caveats that must be given attention:

·         There is absolutely no guarantee that any particular agency request will be matched with an interested faculty member.  Faculty participation is strictly voluntary, and a request may not match the interest or expertise of any SBS faculty member. Our purpose here is to create opportunities for the College and the community to connect, as appropriate to their mutual interests. 

·         The specific work undertaken will be determined by a formal or informal agreement between the organization and the faculty member. This includes the issue of whether the faculty member will be compensated for his or her work or will do it as a volunteer. The clearinghouse will play no role in helping to craft such an agreement.

·         Students may or may not be involved in projects initiated by the organization and the faculty member.  The College believes that student involvement is highly desirable, but the main purpose of this clearinghouse is to match faculty with community needs. If student involvement can be arranged as part of any agreement, so much the better!  

·         This clearinghouse covers only faculty members in the above listed departments and programs. If organizations have needs that they believe would be better covered by departments or programs in another UNI college, they will need to contact them directly. A listing of all UNI academic departments and programs may be found on the UNI website under “Academics.”

If you are interested in tapping into the expertise of the faculty of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, please complete the attached brief form and email it to communityclearinghouse@uni.edu. Your request will then be circulated to the list of SBS faculty members who have indicated an interest in community service. If a faculty member is interested, he or she will contact you in order to initiate further discussions about what his or her role might be in serving your organization. 

If you have further questions about the clearinghouse, please feel free to contact Dr. Hays at allen.hays@uni.edu. We sincerely hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to tap into the knowledge and skills of our faculty!