8
ENLISTING RESEARCH SUPPORT FROM PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS
Attendees had opportunities during the Colloquy for informal discussions in self-selected groups that helped foster cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional research collaborations, which was one of the goals of the Colloquy stated by NSF Program Officer Jesse.
In support of these discussions Robert Teranishi, a consultant for the Ford Foundation’s Advancing Higher Education Access and Success Initiative, made an impromptu presentation on grant opportunities available at the Ford Foundation, which, he indicated, is concerned about being responsive to needs of vulnerable populations. The foundation’s agenda includes attention to college access and completion.
Teranishi urged resistance to attitudes such as “If you work at the margins, you’ll get marginal change,” which seem to sanction disregard for small minority communities. He strongly suggested both (a) engagement with program officers at private foundations because they often do not have external reviewers and (b) efforts to achieve a consensus discussion among foundation program officers, who may be more open to supporting work that uses the theoretical research frameworks discussed at the Colloquy.