Research centers abound on the nation's campuses, offering dynamic career opportunities for scholars at every level

Dr. Pamela Taylor had no delusions about the difficulty of writing a social psychology dissertation in her last year of graduate school at UCLA. The New York City native knew it would take a considerable amount of distraction-free time to finish on schedule. Like numerous other UCLA students whose dissertation subjects center on African American populations, Taylor applied for a pre-doctoral fellowship from the university's Center for African American Studies.

The research topic, "Attitudes Among African American Singles: A Test of Four Perspectives" and her application won Taylor full tuition support for the 1997-98 academic year and a $10,000 stipend from the university's Black Studies research center. The annual fellowship enabled her to get office space at the center, and it freed her up from having to work part time while she researched and wrote the dissertation.

"I did not have to worry about supporting myself last year," Taylor says, adding that the people at the center "were very helpful."

For scholars of color, affiliation with research centers and institutes can represent a critical part of the academic experience. In terms of training, graduate assistantships, fellowships, office space, equipment, and research sponsorship, the research center often provides resources to scholars beyond what they can get in their regular academic departments.

"Centers and institutes are a source of funding; they are a source of mentoring; and they are a potential source of a research agenda for young scholars," says Dr. Christopher Foreman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, D.C.

Academic centers and institutes abound at wealthy universities, both public and private. At places like the University of Pennsylvania, it's not uncommon to have more than one hundred such centers of research. In some cases, they allow scholars whose research interest is interdisciplinary to create a center removed from the purview of an academic department. Others may represent an arm of a department, and fall under the control of departmental heads. Department chairs who direct an affiliated research center may grant scholars dual appointments within both the center and the department.