EVERY SCHOOL HAS them, those research
seminars where no amount of marketing
can prevent embarrassingly sparse
attendance, low participation, and
less-than-spirited discussion. But the
University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner
College of Business and Economics
in Newark wanted to take a different
approach to the way it invited external
speakers to present academic seminars
to its faculty. Rather than offer small,
individual seminars, college administrators
decided to organize large-scale
departmental symposiums.
The idea originated with faculty in
the university’s department of business
administration, explains Bruce Weber,
dean of the Lerner College. They decided
to move from a model of scheduling
multiple visits by individual researchers
to one of planning a single-day showcase
of researchers.
The all-day format of the Lerner
Management Research Summit draws
higher-profile regional experts, has
greater impact, and motivates more faculty
and doctoral students to attend than
several single-speaker events, Weber
says. “It’s more exciting for the outside
speakers to come here. They are getting
a lot more out of this visit.”
The college’s new symposium format
incorporates three elements. It begins
with research presentations in which
speakers share the details of their work.
Following the presentations, a panel
of experts engages with Lerner faculty,
students, and each other in an interactive
dialogue. The day ends with a
networking session, where attendees
can continue discussing the panel topic
in smaller groups.
The first summit brought together a
panel of visiting experts who, instead of
discussing their research topics, talked
about their lives as researchers and
how they found meaning in their work.
This led to a discussion with the audience
on topics ranging from overcoming
rejections to communicating with
journal editors.
“The goal of the panel was to inspire
the attendees to think more deeply about
the meaning of our lives as researchers,
scholars, academics,” explains Katalin
Takacs Haynes, an associate professor of
management who served as the moderator
for the school’s inaugural summit
held in November 2017. For many in the
audience, hearing about the panelists’
search for meaning was “a profound
experience,” says Takacs Haynes.
Dustin Sleesman, an assistant
professor of management, says that
the summit provided him with “a great
opportunity to reflect on the ups and
downs of being a researcher in today’s
hyper-competitive publishing environment.”
Just a few days after the summit,
he was able to implement takeaways in
his class on conflict and diversity—this
effect was magnified across the many
faculty who attended.
Fifty people attended the Lerner Management
Research Summit in March.
News of the summit is also reaching
broader audiences, says Takacs Haynes.
For example, an editor from a prominent
journal has asked to be included in the
program in 2020. To date, the Lerner
College has used this daylong symposium
model to host a marketing camp and
additional faculty research summits. Organizers
are now planning to implement
the approach for other departments.
The key is not only to make a great
impression on visitors, says Weber, but
to give them a chance to interact with
the school’s research culture. “We want
them to see that we’re making the scholarly
pursuits of our faculty a key priority
at the college.”
Dena Hillison is a communication
specialist at the University of Delaware’s
Lerner College of Business & Economics
in Newark.