Tufts University Center for Children
TUCC
Annual Report
May, 2000

Tufts University Center for Children (TUCC) began operation in July, 1999, after two years of intensive planning including a series of faculty workshops and a steering committee process under the auspices of Vice Provost June Aprille. TUCC is a resource of and for affiliated faculty with interests in child development, health and policy. The Center catalyzes and facilitates interdisciplinary research, service, education, training and social action advancing the well being of children, their families and their communities. TUCC is a critical vehicle for advancing the University mission and strategic plan in terms of priorities for educational and scientific excellence, social and civic responsibility and building synergies among the various schools and campuses of Tufts.

Over seventy Tufts faculty members from each of Tufts' six schools participated in the launching of TUCC. An electronic list-serve of 100 (??) faculty, staff and community partners currently provides basic and regular communication for the growing TUCC network. Inclusion of students in the network has begun, with plans for expansion. The Steering Committee includes Jeanne Goldberg (Nutrition), Fran Jacobs (Arts and Sciences), Deborah Nutter (Fletcher), Gary Patronek (Veterinary), Robert Reece (Medical), Kathy Savesky (Veterinary), Howard Spivak (Medical), Anthi Tsamtsouris (Dental) and Donald Wertlieb (Arts and Sciences), each appointed by their respective school dean. A wide variety of activities and accomplishments marked this first year of TUCC's operation, a few of which are noted here to illustrate the range of avenues pursued in advancing our mission. More specific details are noted in the attached "What's Happening at TUCC" flier. Goals and objectives for next year are then proposed to conclude this annual report.

Activities and Accomplishments

Instructional Innovation. Several initiatives this year illustrate TUCC's commitment to inter-school collaboration emphasizing building upon the special features of the Tufts
landscape. In one instance, faculty, staff and alumni from TUSVM, Child Development, BSOT and School Psychology developed a course to be offered this summer addressing the emerging field of healing natural environments, including therapeutic roles for companion animals. This course promotes synergy across several signature programs of the university and serves as the hub for several related internship and research opportunities to be cultivated in the next several months.

A second course in the proposal development stage is a seminar "Youth Violence in America" where graduate students will team with a faculty mentors to analyze government policies and produce "white papers" on the current epidemic. An AUDIT Grant award supports this course development as part of the University's effort to enhance information technology applications. Other instructional innovations under discussion are a multidisciplinary course on the history of childhood, a certificate program to train professionals for humanitarian/disaster/crisis intervention, and Freshman Advising options such as Windows on Research linking to the United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. These innovations connect faculty from several schools to undergraduate, graduate and professional students in new and important ways.

Research and Training in Health and Youth Development. TUCC collaborated with partners from TUSM, Nutrition, A&S, and Fletcher in securing a $950K HHS Fogarty Grant to train researchers and clinicians in southern Africa; a second Fogarty application will be submitted this Spring. Collaborating with Community Medicine in Boston and Medford and the Tufts Institute for the Environment (TIE), with seed funding from U.S. EPA, a university-community-government partnership will be launched this Spring to innovate solutions to child environmental health problems. A summit meeting of New England regional commissioners of public health, housing and environmental protection;
NGO's: and faculty scholars aims to create an agenda for "Healthy Families/Healthy Schools/Health Communities," galvanizing action on behalf of children and creating meaningful service learning opportunities for Tufts students.

Both of the small grants awarded by TUCC this year ($500) went to projects for research and research training. Both teams are based at the Medical School and include Medford collaborators. One evaluates the court-mandated parent education courses now required of divorcing parents. The second seeds proposal development for research and training initiatives in Ukraine.

TUCC collaborated with the Albert Schweitzer Foundation in launching a new national Schweitzer Education Fellowship to complement their successful health fellowship program. Tufts will boast three Schweitzer Fellows next year - one from Nutrition, one from BSOT and one from TUSM.

Professional Development Workshops, Conferences and University-wide Speaker Series. TUCC co-sponsored 16 events this year ranging from department-based colloquia opened to a broader TUCC audience, to professional development workshops on topics such developmental neuroscience or working with traumatized children, to our own annual conference, this year featuring a pre-publication talk on his forthcoming book "An Uncivil Place: School as Mirror of Society" by David Elkind.

Networking, communications and clearinghouse functions. TUCC responds to the expressed need of the faculty for more and better communication, both collegial and fundraising, as a basis for higher quality teaching, research and inter-school collaboration. Our monthly TUCC e-News alerts the TUCC community to current events, consultation needs and opportunities, funding opportunities and requests for proposals. Presently in development is the TUCC Web Page that will enhance communication further and establish virtual and real-time discussion capacity so that work groups can increase their efficiency. In addition, TUCC places high priority upon liaison and information exchange with both internal and external communities and agencies. For example, TIE and TUCC collaborate in developing programming and consistent infrastructure for Tufts' interschool centers; TUCC holds a seat on the Faculty Advisory Board of the new University College for Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS); and, for instance, consultations with the University Partnership for Infant Toddler Professionals, Massachusetts Campus Compact, Fourth World Movement, American Health Foundation, and W.T. Grant Foundation, etc., identify and advance mutual interests.

Goals and Objectives for 2000-2001

A great deal of activity and initiative has characterized the past year; next year will see both elaboration and focus as we establish priorities with the benefit of the experience of the first years of organizing and launching TUCC. Those activities most consistent with the mission, most likely to be sustainable as benefits to collaborating schools or departments, and most likely to be particularly suited to the TUCC structure will emerge as foci and priorities. More significant inclusion of students and a stronger, more diversified TUCC grant portfolio will be among initial goals. A top priority will be to establish a stable and adequate funding base, counting on demonstration of value and viability to the school deans and development officers. Key infrastructure goals are being addressed with 1) the appointment of Lois Wainstock as Associate Director (currently, project coordinator/conference planner/newsletter editor/ webmaster/bookkeeper/grant writer/etc), 2) a Steering Committee Retreat in September to clarify roles, accountability and priorities, and 3) launching the TUCC Web Page. We look forward to a highly productive future.