The Center for Research on
Vermont was
established in 1975 by 35 University of Vermont (UVM) faculty with
Vermont-related teaching and research interests. They envisioned an
interdisciplinary network joining like-minded persons from all manner
of Vermont institutions and professions—government, K–12 education,
social services, the media, museums and other cultural entities,
colleges and universities, and independent scholars. The scholarly
community whom the Center represents feels a special commitment and
responsibility to develop and pursue opportunities for research on
Vermont. The Center seeks to enhance public awareness of the need,
possibility, and significance of such scholarly work and demonstrate
the University of Vermont’s attention and responsiveness in a uniquely
important area.
Today, 33 years later,
some 312 members
from diverse areas of research and walks of life help the Center
fulfill its promise as the singular clearinghouse for all Vermonters
for Vermont-related research. Through its interdisciplinary network of
noted scholars, the Center serves a number of constituencies, including
state government, schools, institutions of higher education, the media,
museums, and cultural and social agencies.
During these years through the efforts of its members and staff, who are headquartered at the University of Vermont in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center has emphasized several areas of endeavor, including:
Undergraduate Education
• In 1997 the Center for Research on Vermont established the Vermont Studies Program, an interdisciplinary academic minor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont, offering both in-state and out-of-state students a course of study highlighting the value of community, knowledge of one’s history and cultural heritage, sense of place, and connections to the world at large, thereby preparing students to be involved citizens and stewards of our environment. It is noteworthy that during the past 30 years, UVM faculty members have developed and taught more than 75 courses on Vermont in over 20 departments across the university.
•
In 1981 the Center
established the Andrew
E. Nuquist Award, followed in 1997 by the George
B. Bryan Award, to foster and recognize outstanding
undergraduate
student research on Vermont.
Outreach
• Throughout its existence, the Center has conducted the interdisciplinary Research-in-Progress Seminar Series (in April 2008 the series’ 213th presentation took place) to offer a continuing forum for scholarly discourse on Vermont. Since 1996, through a partnership with Regional Educational Television Network, Inc., this series and other Center presentations have been professionally videotaped and broadcast on cable television, reaching 30,000 households in the Greater Burlington area alone.
• The Center has long championed the value of using local and state materials in the classroom, presenting working conferences for teachers on Vermont’s history and heritage, with funding from the Vermont Council on the Humanities, and cosponsoring the 2002 Vermont Social Studies Summer Institute at UVM.
• Working in collaboration with many organizations over the years, the Center has presented a number of conferences, such as “The Vermont Landscape Paintings of Charles Louis Heyde” (2001) at the Fleming Museum, and two acclaimed, multiyear lecture series—“Lake Champlain: Reflections on Our Past” (1985–1987) and “We Vermonters: Perspectives on the Past” (1990–1991)—at Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
•
The Center
continually strives to provide accurate and comprehensive reference
services on Vermont research to members, educators, students,
government representatives, the media, and the public, fielding
hundreds of inquiries from all over the world each year.
• Since its founding, the Center has provided an outlet for scholarly materials on Vermont through its publications, including the refereed Occasional Papers Series (numbering 20 to date), conference proceedings, and reference works. In 1999, in cooperation with The Snelling Center for Government, the Center published the landmark volume Vermont State Government Since 1965 (“[P]robably the most important book published on Vermont in several decades and . . . a phenomenal resource for decades to come”—Christopher Graff, Associated Press).
Last modified October 20 2008 09:23 AM
