Partners in Research

While the past of undergraduates at Radcliffe involved the intricacies of college life, the future, Radcliffe administrators say, lies largely in research partnerships that pair undergraduates with visiting fellows.

Though the Institute offers several programs for undergraduates—including mentorship and externship programs that pair interested students with alums—Faust points to the current Radcliffe Research Partnership program, which began in 1991, as an ideal example of potential collaboration.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for the kinds of connections students now have with faculty and fellows at [Harvard Medical School] and at some of the area studies centers, for example, to exist with the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study as well,” Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail.

When 43 new fellows arrived at the Institute last September, they were given the option of requesting a student research assistant. Interested fellows posted criteria to the program’s website and interviewed interested applicants.

“Research is a very lonely job,” says Irene Silverblatt, an anthropology professor at Duke University who is serving as a Radcliffe fellow this year. “It’s something that you usually just do by yourself.”

And one undergraduate changed her concentration to Visual and Environmental Studies as a result of her work with Barbara Hammer, a documentary filmmaker who is also a fellow this year.

Radcliffe Dean of Social Science Katherine S. Newman, who helps to plan the fellowship program, says she hopes the available undergraduate research partnerships increase.

“It’s really more a matter of the kind of financial support we have for making opportunities available for undergraduates,” she says.

Faust says she is interested in developing another formal program for students to work with Radcliffe Fellows, most likely while they are working on theses. Similar graduate students partnerships are also under consideration, she added.

“This might include some space, some money, a title for the year, but we have not fully worked this out as yet,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Student Concerns

Though fervent student discussion of Radcliffe has disappeared from the Yard, several student groups have attempted to maintain connections with Radcliffe, inviting Faust to speak at meetings and also helping to informally publicize the Institute’s events through e-mail lists and networking.

Faust presented a lecture to the incoming first-year class of 2005 during their first week, detailing the history of Radcliffe College and pointing out the potential of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study to contribute to undergraduate intellectual life.

And in a February meeting with the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), Faust said the merger marked a positive step for female undergraduates by forcing the College to confront women’s issues.