Building connections

"Collaborations," "partnerships" and "linkages" are hot in and outside of academe. Growing numbers of conferences, presentations, workshops and World Wide Web sites are devoted to the topic and likewise it is reflected in the popularity of writings of business gurus like Warren Bennis. Perhaps we in academe are just catching up to our own traditions or perhaps we are intrigued by the successes claimed for collaborative leadership in the private, for profit sector.

Searching for meaning

But, what does this call for linkages mean? From this vantage point, what I hear most often seems to derive from both knowledge based and a public demand for meaningfulness in our education system. We seem to be seeking ways to develop connected and purposeful approaches to learning; approaches that extend beyond any single course or department; ones that can encompass a student's entire cumulative experience and accomplishments. It is a theme common to campuses big and small, public and private. Typically it means that the campus is actively engaged in rethinking some aspect of their educational programming. These initiatives may entail working on new frameworks for education goals and the questions of assessment this raises; they may strengthen existing multidisciplinary programs or start ones. It may involve reforming the major; engaging diversity; and/or developing new forms of connection between academic coursework and issues in the larger society. No matter the particular agenda, the institution wants their faculty to take a central role in these endeavors. They want to increase faculty knowledge of, motivation for and involvement in collaboration.

Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, argues that what is needed are structures that can help both campuses and faculty move in new directions. In particular, she suggests that we need new matrix or integrative units to organize, support and reward institution-wide, cross-departmental educational collaboration and innovation. In making this proposal she asserts that it does not imply dismantling of departments. But, it does mean providing complementary organizational contexts intended to provide faculty members with what individual departments cannot: namely, a holistic educational perspective and designated responsibilities for integrative programs and activities.

Is this possible? Can faculty and their institutions really take on new and complementary organizational units? Before doing so, we must be cognizant of the fact that we cannot afford to effect change as we have in the past--that is, by adding more and more. There must be trade-offs and substitutions if we are to escape from practices that typically add to the burdens faculty members bear. What will those be? What should those be? How can we use partnerships and collaboration to achieve more than what we can each accomplish alone without losing the very strengths we have worked so hard to gain?

While much can be and is being done at the institutional level to advance and encourage partnerships, central to making partnerships work are the faculty. It is the faculty who must find creative responses to the critical issues facing them and their campuses in ways that are consistent with their particular areas of expertise, knowledge and discipline culture. The faculty must be a part of figuring out when a partnership model will work and when it will not when to jump in with both feet and when to move cautiously. I believe that it is essential to maintaining the strength of our education system that connections and transitions be built and nurtured. APA's Board of Educational Affairs and the Education Directorate work hard to foster a partnership approach to education; one that can be built into the very fabric of our academic disciplines, making this approach a part of our values and knowledge base.

Psychology partnerships

The Psychology Partnerships Project has established the infrastructure to network psychology teaching and faculty at all levels. Over the past two years they have hosted meetings at the annual, regional and state conventions to identify existing and relevant partnerships. They have developed and disseminated a national Directory of Teachers of Psychology organized to assist inter-institutional communication and a Directory of Model Partnerships Across Disciplines to encourage new partnerships. Home pages and listservs are in place to foster further exchange and development.

In June, a national Forum on Psychology Partnerships will be held at James Madison University, bringing together leaders in psychology education to discuss, develop and further delineate the parameters, values and contexts for successful collaborations in psychology. Stay tuned for the results of their work and join us in future discussions to find your niche in successful collaborations, partnerships and linkages.



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