Mission

The Mission of College Research Centers

College of Health and Human Development (HHD) Research Centers exist to foster collaboration across existing college organizational boundaries and accelerate pace of research progress on socially relevant problems aligned with the college’s mission that require and benefit from multiple perspectives and approaches. The mission should be substantially more focused than the collective research mission of any college department. (In the remainder of this document the word “center” will refer exclusively to college research centers in HHD.)

While interdisciplinary research collaborations can and do exist within the boundaries of departments, centers are expected to facilitate such activities on a scope that is beyond what can typically be achieved within a single department.

Centers should form the focus for targeted areas of excellence that can promote collaborations across departments, across colleges, across campuses, and across institutions.

Centers can also often establish valuable research resources such as specialized laboratories and shared infrastructure and facilities, and they can attract a critical mass of faculty to a specialized area. Such a combination of resources can provide high visibility for the college and the University, and can enable a relatively rapid response to new areas of opportunity.

While centers’ primary goals and objectives should relate to advancement of research knowledge, they are also encouraged to strategically engage in teaching and/or outreach.