UCLA Center for Action Research
Mission
The world faces many complex problems. A great public university must be part of the solution. The Center’s mission is to organize, prepare, and support student teams as they attack real-world problems in partnership with faculty and major nonprofit organizations, locally, nationally, and internationally. Largely based on students’ capstone experiences, the Center helps transform education and research into service to the world.
Strategy Form multi-disciplinary student teams custom fit to the project needs of NGOs. Use course credit and teaching credit as the internal coins of the realm, and include all other expenses in the budget of the NGO. Fund raise jointly if projects students demand do not have sufficient support. Use information technology to streamline operations, insure projects can be carried across time and teams, and facilitate access to and utility of the growing knowledge base. Bring to scale so as to minimize infrastructure costs relative to value delivered.
We build a team that complements the NGO staff with the skills and personnel needed to advance its project goals. We build the infrastructure that allows the team to stretch across time with shifting personnel. Our students’ diversity of talents and expertise create a rich palate for customization. The partnership offers a complete product/service solution that the NGO can bring to its client populations. The collective power of the UCLA team provides compelling reasons for the NGOs to want to partner in this manner. NGOs become stable bridges for bringing university expertise directly to bear on today’s problems. The benefits to the student, faculty, NGOs, and the ultimate clients are great. Driven to scale, the collective benefits can be enormous.
UCLA students spend an estimated 900,000 hours annually in capstone experiences, with student demand for our partnership projects far beyond current supply. We feel the Center will increase demand for capstone offerings and draw great interest in that expanding market.
Our Founding Partner is Conservation International. We have done successful projects together for the last three years. We will invite other partnerships once the needed resources are in place.
We have formed the Alliance for Action Research to facilitate action-research components in other centers. The Luskin Center for Innovation and the Center for Tropical Research have joined that Alliance. We have also formed the Center for Action Research Alumni Network. Design of the intelligent information system is underway.