OAR Mission Statement

Mission of the Office of Academic Research (OAR)

By conducting relevant research in our field, and offering insight and ideas in fresh context, we will not only "author the culture of our times," but also address the problems of our times.

Columbia College Chicago is committed to supporting faculty and student research in the arts, media, and communications. The mission of Columbia's Office of Academic Research (OAR) is to cultivate, sustain, and promote a core of arts and media-focused research and outreach centers which advance insight and understanding of major issues in the arts and media. The OAR fulfills its mission by sharing the knowledge and information resources of these centers with the Columbia community and beyond, and encouraging collaboration with teaching programs in developing relevant and distinctive research opportunities. Most important, for every center, the bottom line is return on investment for students, in the form of programming, research opportunities, and fulfillment of educational objectives and learning outcomes.

The OAR supports the Center for Asian Arts and Media; Center for Black Music Research; Center for Community Arts Partnerships; Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media; Museum of Contemporary Photography; and the College Library and Archives. These centers may conduct research through artistic practice, and by using primary and secondary research methods, applied research, and action research. They share knowledge, and inform, enhance, and inspire academic programs through inquiry, discussion, teaching, publications, exhibitions, and performances.

The OAR and its centers inform and engage the college community by fortifying existing partnerships and collaboration between centers and faculty; establishing specialized collections and scholarly repositories, where appropriate, in support of research; organizing cooperative research arrangements within and beyond the college; providing support and resources for conducting effective research and accessing scholarly literature; seeking development opportunities; promoting interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary programming; establishing fellows programs; building an internal mentoring network; providing direction and support for individual faculty and student research; and proving leadership in scholarly publishing.

The OAR  supports integrative research programs such as the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Mentorship Initiative. The Centers will play a role in developing and supporting honors courses,  providing unique opportunities for students to advance their knowledge and understanding of the research environment, while also allowing the centers to play a more fundamental role in student learning and achievement.

The OAR also houses the Teaching Artist Journal (TAJ), published by Taylor & Francis. The mission of the peer-reviewed Teaching Artist Journal is to "support and intensify the professional development of Teaching Artistry by advancing the practice of Teaching Artists; by increasing Teaching Artists' understanding of the background, contexts, and potentials of their work; and by expanding the recognition, appreciation, and support of their contributions. TAJ also seeks to enhance collaboration between Teaching Artists and classroom teachers, school arts specialists and other arts providers; to develop a sense of identity and purpose, to foster common language; and to foster illuminating research in the field."

In addition, the OAR administers the college's Institutional Review Board (IRB), which ensures that human and animal subjects used in research are protected. The IRB is responsible for reviewing and approving all research with human and animal subjects conducted by Columbia faculty, staff, and students when performed as part of their work or study at Columbia. The IRB reviews proposed studies to ensure that the dignity, rights, privacy, safety, and welfare of all actual and potential research participants are protected and examines the method in which informed consent is to be sought.

September 2008