The Urban Scholars Program Report of a Planning Meeting (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Urban Scholars Program: Report of a Planning Meeting
Urban Scholars Program: Report of a Planning Meeting
Pages 1-28
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postdoctoral program of support for research and publication on urban and regional issues, prospectively called the Urban Scholars Program. Participants included academic researchers, funders, practitioners, and staff of the NRC and HUD (see p.
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metropolitan areas are powerful engines of national economic growth and well-being, many cities, as well as older suburbs, are experiencing well-documented problems of population decline, slow job growth, income inequality, and poverty. Meanwhile, many newer suburbs are showing the skeins of development patterns that create commuting problems, traffic congestion, overcrowded schools, and the disappearance of open space (U.S.
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Yet in academic settings in particular, this approach has special vuinerabilities, because universities are not well organized to support interdisciplinary programs. These programs face difficulties developing research paradigms and theories that incorporate disparate perspectives, developing rigorous training programs for undergraduate and graduate students that cover all the basics, and developing crosscutting standards for assessing the quality of research.
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Furthermore, this lack of connection contributes to the problems of interdisciplinary programs. Third, there is the problem of the lack of interplay between scholars and policymakers, which poses serious obstacles to the implementation of effective urban research and policy development (Gale and Pack, 2000; Greenstein and Wiewel, 2000~.
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As Susan Wachter, HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, stated in her opening remarks, "We simply need a bigger, stronger pipeline." Without an effective pipeline, HUD finds that the research infrastructure is weak and that the scholarship needed to take on urban issues and contribute to the public debate is seriously lacking. To remedy this, HUD has already taken steps to increase the number of urban researchers through its Doctoral Dissertation Grant Program.
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It would help them develop professional linkages across universities and would encourage them to participate in joint and multi-disciplinary research. Furthermore, Victor Rubin, Director of the HUD Of lice of University Partnerships, said, HUD hopes that the proposed new program could strengthen the connection between institutions of higher education that are receiving HUD support for training or research and the larger national research community and help consolidate research on highly focused local communities into a larger body of knowledge.
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, which funds several postdoctoral fellowships, describes postdoctoral fellows as well positioned to assume leadership roles in the nation's development. HUD's concerns going into the planning meeting included these questions: how to define "new" scholars.
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For example, Ned Hill cited the example of his staff, who are applied researchers who do not normally have an opportunity to present their work to broader audiences. He recommended that the program "buy some sabbatical time," so that nonacademic researchers can write up their experiences and be part of the broader conversations in the field.
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Several participants supported the idea of attracting new researchers. Hal Wolman pointed out that this would increase the capacity to produce knowledge over a long period of time in the area of urban policy and process.
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In addition, he suggested that the recruitment criteria be . sufficiently broad to include such nontraditional people as the investment house financial analysts whom the Fannie Mae Foundation has successfully gotten involved in urban economic development.
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Given latitude to interpret HUD's interests broadly, meeting participants grappled with the question of how-or how much-to define the research interests of the emerging scholars program. Related issues were how much weight HUD should place on the policy relevance of the research and how broad the program could be while still being relevant to HUD's interests.
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For somewhat different reasons, Keith ThianfelUt also suggested that the program not be restricted to HUD's current research agenda, but that it focus on urban issues in general, in part because this could help reverse the bias against urban issues that he has encountered in universities. Kathryn Doherty, a past recipient of a HUD dissertation grant spoke in favor of the program's placing a priority on research that is problem solving and establishing its priorities "with a very policy-oriented sort of view." In this regard, she also strongly urged that the program be open to nonacademic researchers.
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Beyond the distinction between applied and basic research, Victor Rubin raised the question of nontraditional research and its relevance for the program. Falling into this category would be multiauthored pieces and interdisciplinary work, first mentioned by Susan Wachter in her opening remarks, as well as research that straddles the line between applied, local research and more conventional academic scholarship.
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In the end, after much discussion, Hal Wolman and Ned Hill both commented that tenure decisions were a question of both the orientation of a particular department-whether its focus was narrow or broad-and the balance between community engagement-type pieces or coauthored articles and others that are more traditional. Wolman did not see tenure being a problem provided there was a mix of writing.
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direction for the work that they want to do." Ned Hill pointed out that in mainstream academic departments, researchers interested in urban issues are particularly likely to be isolated. On the basis of an informal survey before the meeting of the junior staff at the Rutgers Center, Norm Glickman gave similar advice about using the program to link younger scholars with more senior, accomplished people in the field, and linking scholars throughout the country.
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Several people commented that a prestigious program would have multiple positive effects: it would enhance the professional development of the scholars, add to the prominence of urban research, and advance the reputations of the institutions where the scholars are based. Norman Glickman, Hal Wolman, and others noted that, in addition to fostering scholarly linkages, partnership with organizations like Fannie Mae, the National Research Council, or the Brookings Institution would also lend important prestige to the HUD 16
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In this connection, Victor Rubin pointed out that HUD's Office of University Partnerships has historically supported such efforts, and "looked for every opportunity to get the community of scholars within disciplines and across disciplines to look at this work, to share it, and to support it." He expressed his hope that the emerging scholars program would "create that kind of networking infrastructure to go along with support for individual scholars." Norman Glickman suggested that HUD also think of reaching out to other federal agencies, such as the Departments of Labor and Education, as a way of both 17
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He described inter-agency activities involving the scholars as "a long-term project." James Carr saw partnership-especially a partnership with Fannie Mae-as providing an opportunity to build the urban research community by extending the research of the emerging scholars beyond the period of HUD support: To the extent the outcomes piece fof the research] is very powerful, it gives us the opportunity to support the program by possibly funding some significant research, which then goes beyond the period of time for the urban scholars program, and as part of~that .
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_ relation to the final product, he suggested that the scholars be required to describe the "real-worId relevance" of their research not only in the application, but also on completion of the project, in their final report. Hal Wolman recommended, to general concurrence, that "you .
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lames Carr said that having the fellows participate in workshops at Fannie Mae would be a way to disseminate findings beyond academia. For example, in 1999, Fannie Mae's urban policy program brought selected fellows together with twenty press people for a three-day discussion of urban .
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Looking at the question in terms of teaching responsibilities and other workload, Ned Hill and Keith Thlanfeldt suggested that there be enough support to reduce the fellow's work during the year by at least 50 percent, plus summer support. Hill proposed that the fellowships be for $50,000, which he thought would be an attractive amount and sufficient to free both academic and nonacademic researchers from other responsibilities.
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accounting and administrative costs." Others mentioned including research costs, such as database expenses, as well as a travel budget and $5,000 for a senior collaborator. Jane Karadbi} asked whether requiring a match from the fellow's institution would be a good idea, and several people responded positively.
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James Carr described a similar long-term activity at Fannie Mae: For almost four years twe have been] looking at immigration and its impact on housing affordability, and the community conditions of various immigrant groups.
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We also try and connect institutions together. AFTERWORD The meeting successfully provided the review of issues HUD was looking for, and at this writing the Of lice of Policy Development and Research has proposed to move ahead with funding for the Urban Scholars Program.
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S Department of Housing and Urban Development No Moving Knowledge and Policy; Policy Development and Research Date Priorities, 1998-2000.
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Mitchell, editors. National Research Council.
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. TI:15 IT:30 Key Questions NRC Welcome Faith Mitch eIZ, Director, Division on Social and Economic Studies The Rationale for an Urban Scholars Program Susan Wachter, Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD Victor Rubin, Director, Office of University Partnerships, HUD Discussion (Faith Mitch eiZ, moderator)
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What impact could the program have on academic research and the academic labor force? Who are likely funding partners?
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