Network Makes Connections through CIRTLink
Katherine Friedrich

To allow Network graduate students and post-docs to share their experiences and knowledge, project manager Kitch Barnicle has organized a working group called CIRTLink. Faculty and staff also participate.

"The community provides a way of sharing expertise, input and assistance," said Barnicle. The group meets regularly by teleconference - exchanging advice, answering questions, making connections, and providing tips to streamline projects.

Meghan Pifer, a graduate assistant at The Pennsylvania State University, said she appreciates the communication that CIRTLink provides. "I've been able to tap into the resources of the group collectively," she said. "It's been helpful for me."

Barnicle based CIRTLink on a University of Wisconsin-Madison group that connected CIRTL project assistants during the first phase of the grant. "That seemed to work very well," she said. "We thought we would try to recreate it across the Network."

CIRTLink also helps graduate student assistants to become more integrated into the project. "It's been helpful for me to understand my own role in CIRTL," said Pifer. Pifer also said she appreciates the "eagerness" of the new graduate assistants.

Graduate students have played an important role in CIRTL since its outset, developing programs and courses as well as providing ideas for the direction of the project. Creating connections between Network graduate students, post-docs, faculty and staff allows synergy to develop between different universities.

Barnicle has put a great deal of thought into the communication strategies that will work best for a dispersed Network of institutions. "The quality of your communication within an organization is critical to its success," she said.

March 2, 2007

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