Academic Resources
Study and Meeting Spaces
WISR occupies the entire ground floor of a building on the Berkeley-Oakland border, at 3220 Sacramento Avenue, with access for disabled persons. The floor includes two major lounge-seminar rooms, two smaller office-file rooms, a bathroom, kitchenette facilities, and storage closets. The two larger rooms are used for academic seminars and other organized group meetings, for individual faculty-student discussions, and as lounges where students can study or meet informally. Occasionally, specially funded community projects use WISR offices for administrative meetings and workshops, while renting space for outreach centers in their target communities.
WISR’s space is a wireless hotspot for internet access, for all students who wish to use the space to do research and work on their studies. Students may arrange to get a key to WISR’s space.
Online Collaboration with Wisrville
The WISR Learning Community has recently set up an online blogging and publishing site, “wisrville,” for our own students, faculty and alumni, as well as for others, such as intellectual activists and professionals involved in working for progressive social change. Over time, this online setting will be polished and further developed to support numbers of collaborative projects among WISR learners, as well as online classes to supplement WISR’s personalized mentoring and learning and face to face seminars. We also plan to develop online continuing education classes for people in various health, counseling, human services and education professions, as well as online classes for those wishing to learn more about the knowledge developed by WISR learners (e.g., history of the Omaha people from an Omaha perspective). Wisrville is now being used for information-sharing among groups within WISR (e.g., those working with and/or concerned about youth and youth development), and for community collaborations in which WISR learners are involved.
Library and Available Technology
WISR’s library currently houses an estimated 9,000 volumes. It includes books and journals, special reprints of articles frequently used by students and community groups, videotapes of expert therapists, and audiotapes of WISR seminars and presentations by guest speakers. We have begun especially strong collections in a few areas of study: higher education, education and society, qualitative methods of research and evaluation, counseling psychology, and ethnic studies. Smaller collections are in community development and social policy, human services, philosophy, literature, and the arts. Library shelves are distributed throughout WISR’s two large seminar rooms and one of the offices, so that books, periodicals, reproduced articles, videotapes, and audiotapes are accessible to student and community users. In the past two years, WISR has purchased over three dozen recently published books of essential interest to students preparing for the MFT license, and over two dozen books on topics related to action-research, social change and multiculturality.
WISR has two computers that are available for student use when they are not being used by faculty or staff. One PC has a Laser Printer which is used most for word processing, and a second PC which is used primarily for internet access and for its graphic/desktop publishing software. These computers have word processing capability, and the one of the PCs has graphic/desktop publishing software.
WISR also has a projector that can be used with a laptop to show films at WISR. Sometimes students present films on social change topics for other students and interested people from the larger community. In addition, a high quality speakerphone and free access to a conference call line enables students to have group discussions and even seminars with other students who are studying at a distance from WISR.
Two of the nation’s major university research libraries exist in the Bay Area, on the campuses of the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University, and many other campus and community libraries are open to WISR students. Any WISR student wishing to gain access to the University of California at Berkeley library should contact WISR’s President or the President’s Executive Assistant for information on how to gain access for a $100/year fee. To encourage WISR’s students to use the UC-Berkeley library, the WISR Board has adopted a policy of reimbursing each student up to $100 per year once they show proof of having paid the $100 to gain access. Students who for geographic or other reasons wish to use a different library at another major institution are also entitled to a $100 reimbursement per year for cost associated with gaining access to an academic library with the services of professional librarians.
WISR’s Executive Assistant to the President serves as the library resource coordinator, and is available to help students use WISR’s library and computers in their research. MFT faculty members are responsible for developing and organizing library resources to meet the needs of MFT students, including books, video and audiotapes, and information about local seminars, workshops, practica, and job opportunities. All WISR core faculty are informed about the organization and contents of WISR’s library, and help students to use it regularly in their studies. WISR faculty members routinely encourage and assist students to use the variety of library and other resources that are needed in the preparation of their papers. Students are expected to keep lists of books and articles that they have read, and to make annotated bibliographies of selected readings as noted in the above section under “graduation requirements.”
The Western Institute for Social Research Media Center
The growth of the Internet and common use of social networking have changed the landscape of community networking and development, academic research and educational program delivery.
Equipment has been donated by The Socially Responsible Internet Company Inc. which will include a 46 inch LCD HD display unit with integrated smart TV, web cams and wifi integration. In May 2012, the equipment will be installed in the WISR office main meeting room.
This will immediately give us the capacity to upgrade the current WISR learner services delivery system and expand the individual and community educational experience to include the following benefits and functionality:
1. Web conferencing to better facilitate online classes and collaboration–with the addition of the media center WISR can provide access to online learning, enhance the experience for distance learning students, and increase the collaborative interaction between students and faculty.
2. Upgrade facility capacity for the delivery of live media-based events, community think tank meetings and enhance live class presentation.
3. Make available a media laboratory for enrolled WISR Learners–allowing learners the opportunity to have access to professional grade internet media equipment to master the art of multimedia presentations.
4. The media center will also integrate with the existing learning community online resources and promote the development and student use of wisr.edu and wisrville.org web sites
Ties with Community Organizations
WISR has close ties with a large number of community organizations in the Bay Area and elsewhere. For some of these groups we have provided consultative services; with others, we have planned or operated cooperative community programs; and at others our present or former students are staff members. Staff from these groups periodically participate in WISR seminars and enrich our discussions of community issues. They also provide advice to WISR students on projects in their study programs, and about opportunities for paying jobs, volunteer work, and other community involvements. Examples of these groups are: EcoVillage Farm, Neighborhood House of North Richmond, Ecocity Builders, the African American Health Initiative of the Bay Area Black United fund, the Over 60 Health Clinic of Berkeley, the City of Oakland’s Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent Programs, and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theater.