The author describes his transformation from campus-based research (inreach) to community-based research (outreach) and the organization of the Applied Developmental Science Interdepartmental Graduate Specializations at Michigan State University. He argues that the same criteria for evaluating faculty performance can apply regardless of where research takes place.
Applied developmental science (ADS) at Michigan State University is an approach to outreach scholarship that has three broad objectives: (1) to facilitate university-community partnershipsand interdisciplinary affiliations; (2) to emphasize the integrationof theory, research, policy, and practice; and (3) to address issues ofconcern to the community that simultaneously enhance universityresearch and instructional programs. In this essay I comment onthe relationship between ADS and the university's land-grantmission and infrastructure support and the benefits and barriersrelated to faculty involvement in outreach. My comments arebased on my own experiences and must be evaluated within thatcontext. Finally, I freely refer to the individuals and events thatinfluenced my research career, particularly those that helped shapemy transition from inreach research to outreach research and thathelped fashion the ADS model as it has emerged at MichiganState University.