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The investment on your end--
as a part of a person working
for the university--
has to be beyond just
getting your work done.
Because building
those relationships
with that community,
it's got to be real.
It can't just be, I'm going
to put my university hat on.
I'm going to go build this
relationship because I'm
professor so-and-so,
it's got to be you.
So what's really important when
I think about collaboration
is to make sure that my
clientele are involved
not only in the work that
I do in terms of conducting
the research, but also in
helping to generate the ideas
or identifying the problem.
It's not enough anymore
just to say, yeah,
we're just doing the good work.
She's off doing the
good stuff, there.
We actually need to really think
about what is the good work?
If that telling people?
If that engaging people?
How many people?
What kind of questions
are we actually doing?
So I think that new
times means that we're
in an area where there's
lots of information all over.
Information is like
readily available
at people's fingertips.
So it's no longer enough to just
say, we gave them information,
because they can
get it anywhere.
You have to say, man,
what do they do with it?
Was that actually
the information
that they needed or wanted?
Engagement to me, is designing
and building an entire research
project with the community.
So you're not telling them
and you're not giving them
that sort of two minutes
of just giving feedback
when they, themselves, are
sort of a PI in that project.
And really and truly engage
kind of scholarship and research
work, they're
actually helping you
think about the actual question
you're trying to answer.
So I often go to my
growers and ask them
what their problems
or needs are.
But it's also my job to be
thinking about new ideas
to present to them.
And so it's really important
when those ideas come to you,
to make sure that you're
interacting with your clientele
and saying, hey, what do
you think about trying this?
You then ask for or are
offered an invitation
to conduct some of this research
on those particular grower's
fields.
So it's a way to
further engage them
into the work that's being done.
So in my work, they
often play a role
in planting and/or
harvesting of the plots that
are involved in the research.
And so they see firsthand
what the outcomes
of different studies are.
It makes me really feel good
that I think we as a university
and as extension
sort of nationally,
are moving away from this
thought of we're the expert
and we're giving the community
knowledge that they don't have.
Like, let's go help
these poor people
that don't know anything.
I'm probably learning
more from the community
than they're learning from me.
I sort of look at it
as my role to sort of
be responsive to what
their needs are, and go
like solve their issues and
help find resources for them,
especially when it comes to
solving community issues,
solving ocean issues.
I think including not
just scientists, but also
people that use the ocean,
work with the ocean,
live in those
coastal communities,
to work on solving
those questions.
And working on research
projects together
always ends up with better--
or at least, more interesting--
results.
So my advice to a new
extension agent about
engaged scholarship is
make sure that you're
listening to your clientele
and involving your clientele,
because they have skills
that you don't have
and that you may never
have, that are going to help
put you down productive paths.
So I often go to my
growers and ask them
what their problems
or needs are,
but it's also my job to be
thinking about new ideas
to present to them.
And so it's really important
when those ideas come to you,
to make sure that you're
interacting with your clientele
and saying, hey, what do
you think about trying this?
And those people are
really good about helping
you think of ideas.
In fact, they're going
to think of more ideas
than you have time to work on.
So it's important to sort
through what those ideas are,
what are your interests,
and how can you
make the most impact
both with your clientele,
but also meet the academic
requirements that you
have for your position.
I think communities, especially
working with the fishing
community like I
do, very passionate,
can be very abrasive,
want to tell you
that they don't like something.
And it can be very intimidating.
And so what I always say to
people is passion is awesome.
So even if a community
is passionately
against what you're
doing, grab that passion
and engage back with your own.
Don't be afraid of the passion.
Grab it, it's awesome.
Because there may be a really
interesting project or research
question that maybe wasn't
the one you thought of,
but if you followed
their passion backwards,
you're going to find
something really great.
Make sure you're
doing what you need
to do to be successful
as an extension agent.
And so our university
has requirements of us
from a scholarship
perspective, that
are really, really
difficult for some people
and easier for others.
What's important is that
you're able to accomplish
those requirements without
losing sight of what's really
important to your stakeholders.
For example, I oftentimes have
very practical applied research
ideas that have been
generated by my clientele.
These are not things that may
lead to a journal article,
but they are things that
are very, very critical
to the grower base,
and that may really
have an impact on
production practices.
And think about
how can I add maybe
one or two more components
that can be measured,
that would then allow me to
take that really applied work
and have a bigger meaning
from a publishing standpoint?
And so it's sort of
the idea of killing
two birds with one stone.
But you have to
think about it of
as how can I make this
easier for myself,
and also accomplish the goals
or the expectations that
have been set in
front of me by both
my supervisors and
the university folks,
but more importantly, the
growers and those people
that I'm set out to serve.
When you do work
on grower's fields,
the impact usually is greater
than when they're just
presented with research results
that were conducted somewhere
where they were
unable to see them.
And so when they are
actually out there involved
in what you're doing, it's much
easier for them to believe it
when they've seen it.
When they see these efforts
being made in real life
situations that look very
similar to their situation,
then they're much more
willing to adopt practices
than when someone gets
up in front of them
and presents information
and says they should do it,
or when someone says,
well, the literature
indicates that this is
the best thing to do.
When you work with
people, you are actually
building leaders
in your community.
As you start engaging
them in research
and engaging them on how to sort
of be professional stakeholders
and how to use different
tools to solve problems,
and how to be collaborative.
And how to ask good
research questions.
And so now, a lot of
these fishermen and people
I started working with 10 years
ago, are now sharing boards,
are now advisors to the Pacific
Fisheries management council,
are now stepping up in
real leadership roles
into the community.
And so I see that as a huge
direct impact of the work.
Not so much program-specific,
but in terms
of community level, it's huge.
I think it's helped my
career, because I've
gotten to connect with a lot
of different people on campus.
I've been involved in many
different kinds of research
projects, which has
allowed me to build
a really diverse
portfolio, a really
diverse vita of the things
that I've done as I've started
working with people
at the university
and helping them
with their projects.
And helping them connect
to the community.
And helping them design
educational programs.
That word has kind of spread
through the university.
Well, this is the gal that works
with the fishing community.
This is the gal that helps
you kind of build inroads.
And so I've ended up in some
really interesting projects
and working with a really
diverse group of people
from various different colleges.
What's really
impressive about this
is that we're actually bringing
real life people resources
and information
from the university,
out into the real world.
And by doing that,
we've provided
for whoever your clientele
are, an opportunity
to benefit from the dollars,
from the staff time,
from the resources, from
the energy that extension
agents and extension programs
are really good at doing.
I love working with
the community a lot.
And I feel like I
constantly learn from them
in terms of how do I
engage, and also learning
about their own culture and
what they're passionate about.
And I really enjoy it.
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