The report Narrowing the Gap: Lessons for Community College/Research University Collaboration is the result of a partnership between ATEEC and MIT
ATEEC and MIT's LFEE partnered to integrate environmental technology research into the classroom and community. This partnership was encouraged and funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education. ATEEC and LFEE have collaborated on a number of projects the most challenging of which was the development of a series of environmental technology instructional materials Technology and Environmental Decisionmaking incorporating some of the most recent research findings in climate change air quality water quality and environmental decisionmaking. As a result of their experiences ATEEC and LFEE found that the process of developing these materials was an invaluable learning experience for both partners bridging issues of institutional culture communication and sometimes divergent objectives. The Narrowing the Gap: Lessons for Community College/Research University Collaboration report describes how they worked through these issues and offers suggestions to guide other such partnerships in the future. Key elements addressed include:
- Developing and maintaining a realistic common vision
- Securing quality resources human and capital
- Crafting and utilizing an overall systematic process
- Promoting collaborative management and leadership
- Devoting necessary time and effort to partnership maintenance
- Applying key elements and processes to development of a product