Lehigh Valley Research Consortium to Celebrate 10 Years of Collaboration

December 5, 2016, @ 8:00 AM

The Lehigh Valley Research Consortium (LVRC) was founded in 2007 by a group of LVAIC faculty in the pursuit of combining the expertise of researchers from institutions of higher education and community partners in the Lehigh Valley to examine various issues (e.g., political, economic, social, health and environmental) and solutions in a regional context. The past ten years have been a great time for LVRC to gain momentum on these initiatives; however, the consortium is looking ahead to much bigger things.

“The LVRC’s ten year anniversary gives us an opportunity to celebrate a decade of impressive strides in the region’s research capacity and to look forward to a new decade of research challenges. The LVRC faculty are proud to have partnered with local public and non-profit leaders in a mutual commitment to gathering and using reliable, impartial data to assess our needs and facilitate data-driven decision-making,” says Hannah Stewart-Gambino, LVRC Director and Professor of International Affairs and Government and Law at Lafayette College. “Looking forward, the LVRC is committed to collaborating with the region’s organizations to further strengthen data collection and analysis, data sharing, and collective decision-making. Our vision is to build ever-stronger bridges between the LVAIC faculty/students and our Lehigh Valley community.”

The LVRC functions as a community-based research partner for Lehigh Valley governments, non-profits, and citizens concerned with the overall quality of life in the region. Recently, the LVRC has added new Data Citizenship workshops for community partners interested in strengthening their own in-house data collection, analysis, and presentation.

“Celebrating 10 years of the LVRC is a true testament to the dedication and commitment of our faculty in serving the Lehigh Valley,” explains Christine Carpino, LVRC Research Coordinator and Assistant Professor of History, Literature, and Languages at Cedar Crest College. “As a result of this hard work, the LVRC is known in the region as a high-quality resource for data collection, analysis and evaluation. As we look ahead, the LVRC can serve as a true partner in supporting the capacity of community organizations to engage in data-driven decision making.”

LVRC is an ongoing program of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges. To learn more about the LVRC and get involved with an upcoming project, visit the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium page.