Rutgers Speakers Bureau connects scholars to professional and community groups
MaryAnn Ralph, head of adult services at the West Orange Public Library, was looking for an expert on global warming to talk to a group as part of the library’s summer reading program. A simple Google search brought up the Rutgers Speakers Bureau, a service offered by the Office of Community Affairs, designed to share Rutgers’ wide-ranging expertise with professional and community groups across New Jersey. “When I searched global warming, I found a short bio of Alan Robock on the speakers bureau website,” Ralph said. “From there I just called community affairs, and they put everything together in a matter of a week. It was really quite simple.”
Robock, a professor of environmental science at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, emailed Ralph to confirm the plans.
Robock facilitated a discussion on global warming following the library’s screening of Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
“He was excellent – very knowledgeable and an interesting guy,” Ralph said.
The Rutgers Speakers Bureau makes the lives of academic department administrators easier by serving as a central contact point for community groups to find experts on topics ranging from nutrition, art, and stem cell research to applying to college and bullying. Easing the work of booking speakers is part of the mission, but the prevailing task is to solidify relations between Rutgers scholars and citizens of the State of New Jersey, and expose state residents to the myriad areas of expertise.
“We use the faculty and staff in the speakers bureau as a way to showcase the research being done at the university to audiences around New Jersey,” said community affairs specialist Arlana Arrington. Clinton Andrews, associate professor and director of the urban planning and policy development program at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, spoke to a high school assembly and members of a retirement community about energy issues. “The speakers bureau has made it easier for people to find the right speaker,” he said. The two dates scheduled for Andrews were departures from the more policy-oriented talks that he frequently gives. “It’s fun, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. I think it is good for alumni relations as well as for student recruiting.”
Launched in as a pilot in spring 2006, the speakers bureau was promoted more widely to civic and community groups starting this fall. The website highlights a featured speaker each month, as well as popular and timely topics of interest. The website also offers a database of approximately 150 profiles, illustrating their topics of expertise.
The community affairs office is endeavoring to increase its database of speakers: Faculty members can “opt-in” through a faculty survey, or contact community affairs. Staff and administrators can use a sign-up form on the speakers bureau website after seeking approval to participate from their supervisors.
Ralph said her experience using the website and working with community affairs was so positive, she definitely will use the Rutgers Speakers Bureau again.
“We have had other professors come in from other universities, but those schools haven’t had formal speakers bureaus, so I was making blind calls until I got the right person,” she said. “It’s very easy to search the Rutgers Speakers Bureau and find a couple of names. And it’s always nice to be able to reach a person.”