Celebrating Faculty Research
April 18, 2008
1. Introduction: What are we talking about when we talk about “research” at FIT?
2. Presentations: Research by FIT Faculty.
- Geoffrey Rogers (Science and Math) — Reflectance from Turbid Media.
- Anna Blume (History of Art) - Maya Concepts of Zero.
- Bil Donovan (Illustration) - Prescription for Research in the field of Illustration and Publishing.
[Coffee break]
- Praveen Chaudhry (Social Science) - Research in Security / Strategic Studies, Political Economy and Comparative Politics.
- Lourdes Font, (Graduate Studies/HA) - Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory and Museum Practice.
3. General Discussion: Twelve questions about faculty research.
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The mini retreat began with all of us writing down our definitions of “research, “ such as these from NJ Wolfe and David Drogin:
“An activity to find pertinent information to answer a question. The question can be the result of an assignment, a job task, a personal need or just curiosity. (NJ)
“Research is the investigation of primary sources as well as of related secondary sources to better understand the material facts of a field, its contexts, and its methods of investigation. ” (David)
Presentations by five faculty members followed, each representing a different field of inquiry. Geoffrey Rogers, from Science and Math, presented on his discovery of a new way to calculate the reflection of light from “turbid media.” Anna Blume, from History of Art, discussed her on-going research into the Maya concept and representation of zero, a subject that takes in mathematics, anthropology and history as well as beautiful illuminations and carved stone. Bil Donovan, from Illustration, talked about the process of generating ideas and images in a works such as his recent book on Edith Head. Praveen Chaudhry, from Social Science, discussed the methods and subject matter of his work in Political Science, including his forthcoming book on competing views of the role and value of the International Monetary Fund. Lourdes Font, representing Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory and Museum Practice in the Graduate School, spoke about her research in fashion history for which she has been able to take advantage of important archives in the FIT Library has important archives.
Following the presenations, we turned to the “twelve questions” referred to above, which were circulated to participants in the week before the mini retreat. The twelve questions were:
1. What kinds of research activities are most common in your field?
2. What are the tools and methods of the research that interests you?
3. What conferences, publications, competitions, exhibitions are there where you can showcase your work and get feedback from peers in your field?
4. What are the most prestigious venues for sharing work in your field?
5. What was your last research project and how did you share it with peers?
6. Which research activities are others in your department or specialty involved in?
7. What connections have you made at other colleges or in industry through your research efforts/activities?
8. How has your research changed your dialogue with colleagues at FIT?
9. How important do you think this kind of activity is for an FIT instructor, and why?
10. How has research changed your teaching over the years?
11. What do you imagine FIT’s research profile is and should be?
12. What steps can the FIT community take to support faculty research?
Here — thanks to Jackie Corrigan, who took these notes — are some of the ideas that came up in the lively discussion that followed the presentations. Our starting points were questions 11 and 12:
- What do you imagine FIT’s research profile is and should be?
- What steps can the FIT community take to support faculty research?
Comments included:
- Doing research develops the critical thinking skills of faculty.
- Students seeing faculty do research encourages their participation in the same.
- Leaders within SUNY are unaware of what FIT does regarding teaching and research.
- We’re well known for fashion but not for research.
- Creating a faculty-research database will be useful in letting the FIT community and SUNY become aware of and benefit from FIT’s research.
- Extending the definition of research beyond the liberal arts will make other FIT members aware that what they’re working on may be research too.
- The first step is for faculty to submit their responses to the Faculty Accomplishments Survey (covering the last five years).
- The second step is putting online and otherwise circulating the information from this survey.
- The third step is to create a speakers bureau (from the survey information) to have faculty ‘guest lecture’ in a class or be invited to give presentations off campus.
- E-publishing is useful to researchers sharing their work with each other.
- FIT faculty presentations at conferences and symposia will raise off-campus awareness of the research FIT is doing.
- The FIT website can be used to showcase FIT research with text and pictures, video streams, etc. Some colleges use NYC subway ad space for this.
- For faculty whose departments have not jumped aboard the research train, the Vice President’s support (e.g., regular gatherings of faculty involved in research) is valuable.
- CET supports teaching in the classroom projects; however, it has also provided seed grants for other areas, e.g., writing across the curriculum, interdisciplinary efforts, etc.
- The infrastructure could be re-conceptualized (regarding, for example, released time and sabbatical systems) to be more supportive of faculty substituting teaching time with time dedicated to research.
- FIT should consider extending support for research to non-classroom faculty.
- The Grants Office can assist faculty with locating funding sources for research; or SPIN (a database of research funding) can be accessed through the Grants Office website.
- The SUNY Library Directors’ Committee is charged with envisioning the library of the future and how it can support research. N.J. Wolfe has agreed to serve on this committee.
