99-02-12:  COMMISSION TO BOOST U.VA.'S PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH


In our Jan.22 issue, Inside UVA profiled two of the four planning
commissions that have been formed to guide U.Va.'s effort to achieve
national renown in four targeted disciplines, an effort dubbed
"Virginia 2020." That profile described the commissions on the Fine and
Performing Arts and International Activities.

This week, we profile the commission on Public Service and Outreach.



By Dan Heuchert



It's hard to imagine a more daunting task than to assess what the
University of Virginia contributes to the surrounding community, state,
region and world, but in effect, that's what the Commission on Public
Service and Outreach is being asked to do.

Among the first orders of business, not surprisingly, will be to come
up with its own definition of public service, said commission chair
Rebecca D. Kneedler, associate dean for academic affairs in the Curry
School.

"The average person uses the terms of service and outreach in very
different ways," Kneedler wrote in remarks prepared for a December
planning meeting.

She concurred with the ideas of Ernest Lynton, a professor at the
University of Massachusetts-Boston, about what public service isn't.

"He notes it is NOT 'institutional citizenship,' which includes faculty
advising and university committee work; it is NOT 'disciplinary
citizenship,' which includes service to one's academic or professional
special field; and it is NOT civic contributions, which are voluntary
and include religious and charitable works," she said.

Even with those parameters, the field is broad enough that Kneedler is
calling in some help. She plans to use her commission as a steering
group, overseeing as many as five "auxiliary groups" to examine public
service and outreach efforts in health and medicine, business and
economic development, government, education and technology.

Each of those groups, in turn, may subdivide geographically, to focus
on impacts in the local community, the state and region, and the global
stage.

Kneedler suggested her commission tackle seven major tasks, starting
with defining terms. The others:

-- Find new strategies for publicizing the work the University already
does. "We are already doing much more in public service at the
University of Virginia than is generally recognized, so the task of
correcting our image into the more accurate one is as important as any
facing this commission," Kneedler wrote.

-- Inventorying and assessing current U.Va. public service and outreach
activities.

-- Identifying and evaluating benchmark institutions.

-- Collecting "radical ideas" for new directions and initiatives. As an
example, she noted that she had already received a suggestion that the
University operate an on-Grounds elementary school for children of
University employees.

-- Changing the reward structure for outreach efforts.

-- Setting priorities for investments, including the new adult degree
program recently approved in concept by the Faculty Senate and the
Board of Visitors.

Kneedler issued a call for input from the entire University community.





Public Service Planning Commission Member List


Chair: Rebecca Kneedler, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Curry
School of Education

Harold Burbach, Chair and Professor of Education, Curry School of
Education

Richard F. DeMong, Director, Center for Financial Services Studies,
Virginia Bankers Professor, McIntire School of Commerce

Carolyn Engelhard, Health Policy Analyst, Health Sciences Center

Doris Glick, Director of Primary Care Nursing Center, School of Nursing

Robert Hull, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and
Engineering

David Kalergis, Director, Virginia Gateway

Dennis Kernahan, Adviser, Office of Vice President for Research and
Public Service

Edmund Kitch, Joseph M. Hartfield Professor, School of Law

Jay Lemons, Chancellor, Clinch Valley College

Marcus Martin, Chair of Emergency Medicine, Health Sciences Center

Mark Reisler, Associate Dean for Admissions, Darden School of Business

Sondra F. Stallard, Dean, Continuing Education

Kenneth Schwartz, Associate Professor, School of Architecture

John P. Thomas, Director, Cooper Center for Public Service

Kathryn Thornton, Professor and Director of Center for Science, Math,
and Engineering

Karin Wittenborg, University Librarian, Alderman Library President's
Office Staff Liaison: Virginia Collins, Assistant to the President