Poughkeepsie Institute Earns Prestigious National Award

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The Poughkeepsie Institute, the urban research collaboration among the City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess Community College, Culinary Institute of America, Marist College, State University of New York-New Paltz, and Vassar College, has been selected for the first America’s Community Partners of the Year Award by the National Society of Experiential Education (NSEE).

“Although there was considerable competition, the committee unanimously agreed that the Poughkeepsie Institute partnership is the most impressive,” wrote Ann Lutterman-Aguilar, chair of the NSEE awards committee, and academic director of the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College, in Minneapolis, MN.

Kurt Daw, dean of fine and performing arts at SUNY-New Paltz, Maria Marewski, executive director of the Children’s Media Project,and Peter Leonard, director of field work at Vassar College, were the joint faculty members for the Poughkeepsie Institute in 2005, and accepted the award on Saturday, October 29, at the NSEE National Conference in Philadelphia.

“This honor really highlights the social and educational innovation at work in Poughkeepsie,” said Leonard.

The Institute promotes social research and social action in Poughkeepsie, and turns the city into a laboratory for examining a local issue with national implications. In its annual semester-long course, the Institute enrolls students from all of the participating colleges, and taps the combined expertise of professors, municipal officials, and business, human service, educational, and community leaders. The findings and recommendations of each year’s final student report comprise roughly forty written pages, as well as a film or photo presentation, and are
presented by the students to both a public press conference and a hearing of the Poughkeepsie Common Council.

According to the NSEE, the Poughkeepsie Institute gained extra attention for its 2005 report, “The Arts: Poughkeepsie’s Fragile Promise,” leading to the Society’s award. Fostering the key recommendation of the report — a comprehensive city policy to promote economic development, civic pride, and education through the arts – is the Institute’s focus through 2006. In the spring of 2007, students will embark on the next Poughkeepsie Institute study, “The Civic Effects of Religious Communities in Poughkeepsie.”

Among its many academic benefits, the Poughkeepsie Institute has proven to be a powerful means for local college students to bridge their studies directly to the Hudson Valley.

“When I arrived at Vassar, one of my goals was to increase and improve the college’s involvement with our local community,” said president Frances D. Fergusson, now in her twentieth year. “This award is a very happy confirmation of our efforts.”

Brief History Of The Poughkeepsie Institute

An urban research institute uniting the city of Poughkeepsie with the area’s colleges was first suggested by an American Studies student at Vassar College, in his 1994 senior report “Poughkeepsie: the City that Hopes.” The very next year, an ordinance passed by the city’s Common Council brought the Poughkeepsie Institute into existence, as the country’s only formal collaboration of colleges and a municipality (a distinction that continues through today).

From its founding, the Institute has enjoyed the steadfast support of Poughkeepsie’s mayors, first Sheila Newman, then Collette Lafuente and Nancy Cozean, and leaders of numerous community agencies — from the arts and business to human services and education — have consistently formed the Institute’s board.

Earlier topics of Poughkeepsie Institute reports have included “The Implementation of Welfare Reform,” “Housing and Homelessness in Poughkeepsie,” “Race and Ethnicity in Poughkeepsie,” “The Poughkeepsie Waterfront,” and “Tranportation in Poughkeepsie.”

For more information, contact Peter Leonard, chair of the Poughkeepsie Institute, and director of field work at Vassar College, at (845) 437-5280, and Jeff Kosmacher, director of media relations, at (845) 437-7404.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005.