This fall marks the fourth semester of Faculty Research Exchanges at Penfield Library. Every Faculty Research Exchange features two SUNY Oswego faculty members from different departments, each giving an informal presentation on their research.
Attendees have the chance to brew a mug of tea while engaging and asking questions on disparate subjects that may touch on their existing interests or introduce them to something entirely unfamiliar.
Penfield Library began hosting these events in early 2023 before eventually teaming up with the university’s Research Council to expand the Faculty Research Exchanges’ reach. “These events are a great opportunity to learn more about topics you might never have thought about otherwise,” said Research, Instruction and Outreach Librarian Nicole Westerdahl.
For the Research Council, supporting the library’s Faculty Research Exchanges is a key piece of outreach helping to raise awareness of all the scholarships going on around the university.
Faculty Research Exchanges "showcase the many ways faculty are involved with scholarly and creative activity on campus,” the School of Communication, Media and the Arts’ Research Council representative Andrea Vickery said. “We may be a teaching-related campus, but the scholarly and creative activity our faculty are involved in, these scholarly pursuits are the source of our passion and energy for teaching.”
Westerdahl highlighted the library’s role in supporting research in every subject, “whether you're a student beginning your research journey or a tenured faculty member working on your fiftieth research article.”
“Penfield Library is a great venue for these events because we support research across and between all disciplines,” Westerdahl said. The library is an interdisciplinary space where researchers from every subject area can feel at home and naturally gather to share ideas. With “Research and Scholarship” as one of SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr.’s Four Pillars for the SUNY System, the value of holding research conversations in a unifying location is clear.
“It makes sense to unite and bring scholarly conversation into the library,” Vickery said. She describes the library as “a force uniting all forms of scholarly research.”
English and creative writing faculty member Erik Wade presented at a Faculty Research Exchange last spring and highly recommended the experience.
“We so rarely have opportunities to actually get to see what our colleagues are working on or to share our research with them,” he said. “I enjoyed presenting and answering questions, but what I really loved was getting to see what my co-presenter's research was about.”
Daniel Baldassarre of biological sciences also presented in spring 2024 about all the research projects going on in his lab. He has already encouraged other faculty members in his department to do the same.
“I think it’s a great way to let folks in other parts of campus know what we’re up to,” he said. “I appreciated the attendance by library/humanities people, with whom I don’t interact a ton. I also liked being paired with someone presenting quite different stuff."
Rasika Churchill of mathematics particularly valued the interesting questions she was asked when she presented in this venue.
“It was such a great experience to talk about your research in front of your own faculty and students,” Churchill said. “Even within the department, we all do different types/content research. When you talk about math, it's a whole universe. So many different subtopics.”
Bigger picture
All the faculty members interviewed for this story said they invited students to attend their presentations, and in many cases, other faculty members from their departments attended in support, too. Baldassarre viewed this as a chance to introduce students to the big picture of everything going on in his lab, whether they’re already working on a research project in his lab or not.
Rebecca Burch of human development, who presented at a Faculty Research Exchange in 2023, agreed. “I think it would be very important for students to learn about faculty research and possibly become involved in the projects. Learning about research and conducting research teaches you how to think critically, plan ahead and consider various factors. We need more exposure to research, even casually, on this campus,” she said.
For Wade, this presentation was a chance to show students what professional scholarship in his area looks like, as well as an opportunity to think about the big picture of his research and get responses from peers in his department. “My colleagues were very kind and came to support me,” Wade said, “and they gave really wonderful feedback.”
Although the series began with –- and still seeks to feature –- presenters who have won grants or awards for research excellence, Faculty Research Exchanges have expanded to include many other faculty members.
“It'd be amazing if we could eventually feature a speaker from every SUNY Oswego academic department,” Westerdahl said. “That means a lot of Faculty Research Exchanges!”
The entire university community is welcome and encouraged to attend these events, and faculty members interested in presenting should contact any member of the Research Council to see about being added to the schedule.
The Faculty Research Exchange schedule for Fall 2024 is:
3 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Penfield Library, room 215
Khairul Islam (Public Relations) and Murat Yasar (History)
3 to 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14, in Penfield Library, room 215
Linea Cutter (Politics) and Arsalan Mirjafari (Chemistry)
-- Submitted by Penfield Library