At Menlo College, cultivating the full potential of all faculty members is key to maintaining high quality standards of education, from the realm of preparing students to pursue their chosen career as active and critically thinking citizens to that of conducting valuable research in fields relevant to modern day academia. As described by the Menlo College Mission Statement, faculty are supported in producing research that informs teaching, theory development, and professional practice in a manner that supports a range of teaching and learning styles. These efforts intersect with the goals outlined by the Menlo College Strategic Plan, which emphasizes the effort enhance learning outside of the classroom and otherwise build a learning and mentoring culture among our faculty that transfers to students. In addition, the mark of a quality faculty member of Menlo College is that all members sustain currency and relevance through continued professional experience, engagement, or interaction and scholarship related to their professional background and experience. Such efforts are peer reviewed by fellow faculty members on a yearly basis, with an important part of the evaluation consisting of investigating the faculty member's evidence of having participated in the dissemination of new knowledge through professional and scholarly outlets throughout the academic year.
After analyzing the confluence of these goals in an effort to identify how best to sustain all of them effectively and efficiently, the Bowman Library team implemented the "Research Forum Program", now known as the Library Research Colloquium Series, during the 2018-2019 academic year. During these sessions, Menlo faculty and students present their research to the Menlo community to create a space of collegiality and spark interesting conversations across disciplines. Since its initiation, the Library Research Colloquium Series has provided a space for faculty members and the students they mentor to present their research on a wide variety of subjects, from the unique characteristics of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley to the ramifications of translated literature in the hyper connected digital world of the modern day. After a period during which the COVID-19 pandemic halted these events for reasons of maintaining safe levels of hygiene for all campus members, the Library Research Colloquium Series began to be held again April 2021, reinvigorating a valuable component of academic life at Menlo College that upholds the institution's ideals, as well as brings the community together.