MSU UOE | Faculty Connections

Faculty Connections

MSU is supporting several efforts to create greater communication, research, and funding opportunities for MSU faculty and staff through multidisciplinary collaboration.

AKTL Networks

AKTL (Advancing Knowledge Transforming Lives) Networks have been created in major geographic areas across Michigan - Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and the Upper Peninsula. These networks bring together faculty and staff who collaborate with community agencies, organizations, schools, public institutions, and businesses. Their purpose is to enhance communication among MSU scholars who do work in the same geographic area and to encourage multidisciplinary work.

An ANGEL group has been created composed of faculty and staff who are interested in communicating and collaborating with others who do work in the various AKTL areas. If you are interested in joining this ANGEL group, please contact partners@msu.edu or visit the University-Community Partnerships Web page for more details.

Engagement Specialists' 'Confab'

Confab (short for confabulation) is a network that brings together MSU engagement specialists and other staff who have outreach and engagement job responsibilities. This group of individuals is an important part of the academic community that nurtures and facilitates MSU's links with schools, businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other public and private institutions. Confab's purpose is to:

• Coordinate, design, and implement engagement teams that will support new and existing AKTLs—networks of connection between the University and communities.
• Increase the competency of engagement work across the University by building engagement skills and promoting best practice techniques, methods, and models.
• Promote scholarship-based engagement, including the promotion of best practice evaluative strategies for measuring the effectiveness of the act of engagement.

For more information, please contact partners@msu.edu or visit the University-Community Partnerships Web page.

Obesity Council

The Obesity Council promotes multidisciplinary research and outreach in the prevention, recognition, and treatment of obesity. The aim of the Council is to increase funding opportunities in this area by promoting multidisciplinary collaboration among MSU faculty and staff interested in all aspects of obesity prevention.

An ANGEL group has been created composed of faculty, staff, and physicians who are interested in communicating and collaborating with others who do work on obesity issues. If you are interested in joining this ANGEL group, please contact ellio117@msu.edu

Families And Communities Together (FACT)

FACT facilitates collaborative work across MSU's campus and with community partners to address unmet community needs throughout Michigan. Their current efforts include: Sponsoring an annual competitive grant program focused on university-community collaborations; supporting self-directed work groups around focus areas; sponsoring a series of forums for interdisciplinary work and professional development; maintaining a listserv with over 700 participants to disseminate information and promote discussion on child and family issues; and building a directory of faculty, MSU Extension staff and community professionals that can help people find partners for their work and link campus and community. For more information, contact fact@msu.edu or visit the FACT Web site.

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