Institutionalization and Sustainability of Undergraduate Research across Disciplines at a Public, Urban Community College: Successes and Challenges (original) (raw)
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Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research - 2012 Progress Report
2012
This past year, Georgia College launched an Undergraduate Research Initiative aimed at institutionalizing undergraduate research (UR). The initiative team included Ryan Brown (math), Hauke Busch (physics), Robin Lewis (grants), Kalina Manoylov (biology), and Rosalie Richards (chemistry). The STEM faculty team was chosen to participate in the Council on Undergraduate Research's Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Workshop at COPLAC last June. Although the workshop focus was on STEM disciplines, the GC team developed plans for student research and creative activity across all disciplines. The first-year action plan focused on mobilizing faculty to examine research practices and policies and to implement plans for elevating student research at GC. Faculty panel invited to COPLAC A team of Georgia College faculty engaged an audience of faculty and students during a poster session and open discussion on undergraduate research at the 2012 COPLAC Conference during June 22-23. The team comprised of faculty from diverse disciplines at Georgia College: Larry Bacnik (education), Rebecca McMullen (education), Stephanie McClure (sociology), and Katie Simon (english).The conference was hosted at the University of Virginia-Wise.
Our Journey Towards Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research
2014
How do you move from a set of disjointed undergraduate research activities to a fulltime undergraduate research director with a budget of $100,000? How do you move the needle of undergraduate research in less than two years at a predominantly undergraduate institution that has experienced budget cuts for five consecutive years? Since 2010, Georgia College has realized a significant return on a modest investment since it launched a vigorous initiative towards institutionalizing and sustaining a culture of student-faculty collaboration and meaningful student engagement through undergraduate research. This paper is a brief reflection of that process achieved through the non-deliberative application of classic group theory. We believe that our experiences may prove useful to faculty at institutions facing similar challenges.
Institutional support for undergraduate research
Involve, a Journal of Mathematics, 2014
Institutional support is critical for establishing and maintaining an undergraduate research program. This paper discusses some of the challenges that one may encounter when seeking to institutionalize undergraduate research, including budget and personnel issues. It provides various views and ideas from schools that have been successful in securing institutional support for undergraduate research, and makes some suggestions of rationales for effectively arguing on behalf of undergraduate research.
The Role of Institutional Research in a High Profile Study of Undergraduate Research
Research in Higher Education, 2012
Armed with a strong toolkit of knowledge and skills, institutional research (IR) professionals often serve as collaborators with campus colleagues who may need assistance with survey design, statistical analysis, program review, and assessment of individual programs or the institution. This paper discusses the role that an IR professional played in a comprehensive and high profile study of undergraduate research. The project was grounded in educational theory and principles of academic assessment. It consumed many long hours, but it also yielded gains in IR visibility, heightened professional relationships with campus colleagues, a second sizable grant, and multiple publications. Implications for the IR practitioner, contributions to the scholarship of assessment, and institutional synergy are discussed.
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Piedmont College’s quality enhancement plan (QEP) emphasizes a developmental and progressive integration of high-impact practices (HIPs) into the academic and social fabric of the institution. The QEP is HIP initiative provides students with multiple opportunities to deepen learning and leadership skills, which leads to improvements in student success, persistence, and retention. However, the institution grappled with how to effectively engage students in effective, meaningful research-based experiences. During the 2nd year of its QEP implementation, a campus-wide undergraduate research symposium was launched to showcase students’ research and creative inquiry in an effort to (a) gain full institutional participation in this crucial HIP and (b) offer the underserved student population (defined as ethnic minority, Pell-eligible, and first-generation students) an opportunity to participate in professional socialization and experience faculty mentorship. This case study shows the initi...
Institutionalizing Community-Based Research
Metropolitan Universities
Community-Based Research (CBR) presents a wide range of benefits in higher education to students, community partners, and universities. Yet on our campus (and many others), CBR remains less common than other high-impact practices (HIPs) such as service learning and undergraduate research due to lack of effective institutionalization. Moreover, when CBR projects are undertaken, they result in a level of engagement with CBR that produces fewer of the expected benefits than is ideal. Here we detail our efforts to institutionalize CBR on our campus to appropriately expand the practice and its resulting benefits. These efforts focus on three initiatives: raising the visibility of CBR, diffusing expertise to implement CBR, and providing critical support for designing and implementing CBR. We also include our assessment plan which had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan utilizes a mixed-methods approach and will explore how our initiatives have made an impact on faculty...