Incorporating Disciplinary Norms and Practices into Administrative Strategies

Leaders: Edie N. Goldenberg, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Michigan
Daniel Holliman, Instructor, Department of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Provost at Syracuse University

Recorder: Megan Christine Lambart, Social Sciences Peer Advisor and Summer Biomedical Research Fellowship Program Advisor, Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, University of Michigan

Research universities have a major advantage over other types of institutions with regard to undergraduate education because of their ability to involve undergraduate students in cutting-edge research and scholarship in the arts and sciences disciplines as well as in professional schools and interdisciplinary settings. The strongest and most advanced students have benefited for many years from this involvement through completing honors theses or engaging in laboratory work. Undergraduate research also has important positive payoffs, however, for students in their first two years at the university and for students whose academic credentials are weaker and who might otherwise have a difficult time connecting with the intellectual side of college life.

This session addressed such questions as:

• How can faculty find time and resources to involve undergraduates in meaningful research and scholarship experiences?
• How should we oversee these experiences in order to ensure that they are meaningful or that necessary interventions occur?
• What sorts of effective incentives can administrators offer?
• Should undergraduate research be the focus of Arts & Sciences only or should the entire university (including research scientists) be concerned about involving undergraduates in scholarly and creative activity? If the latter, how do we make that happen?

Main Points

Undergraduate research is valuable for the institution as well as for students. When it becomes a significant part of the undergraduate experience, it can re-center undergraduate education around the research and scholarship that is at the heart of a research university, and can become a vehicle through which faculty, departments, and institutions can take undergraduate education more seriously.

From an administrative point of view, involving undergraduates in research and scholarship helps deans to spread the responsibility for undergraduate education more broadly among a greater number of individuals, such as post-docs and research faculty, as well as faculty and others from units outside of the arts and sciences. Undergraduate research provides good opportunities for faculty in professional schools to become involved in undergraduate education; at many institutions, for instance, medical school faculty supervise a large percentage of the undergraduate students who are conducting research in the biological sciences.

Undergraduate research can have a positive impact on student diversity and retention. Research university campuses are distinguished by the presence of individuals from many different cultural backgrounds, and it is important to address the needs of these groups as well as to provide forums such as research groups that bring together people from different backgrounds. In particular, undergraduate research provides a way to close the retention gap between minority and non-minority students. The University of Michigan, for example, has improved the retention of African American males through undergraduate research.

It was agreed that a research or scholarly experience should not necessarily be a mandatory requirement for all undergraduates, but that the opportunity to undertake research or scholarship, and thereby to learn the valuable skills of how to ask questions, how to determine what information is valuable, and how to think critically, should be available to all.

It is especially important not to limit participation in research and scholarship to only the most advanced students. While students often do not have the opportunity to become involved in research until their third or fourth year, first- and second-year students should also be exposed to research experiences. In lab groups and other settings that involve students from the first or second year on, the third- and fourth-year students can mentor the underclassmen. In order to introduce students to research and scholarship in their intended majors, departments could build research experiences into the sophomore curriculum.

Creating a sustainable program requires incentives for students as well as for faculty. Institutions need to 'meet students where they are' and create linkages between the students and the world of academic research, avoiding top-down models. The most successful programs create mentor relationships between interested, inquisitive students and the faculty. So that students can contribute to a project in a meaningful way, institutions need to provide them with opportunities to develop the needed background and skills, for instance through research-prep seminars or courses, and to provide faculty with guidelines on appropriate goals and outcomes. Many institutions, for instance, require that students receiving funding or credit for participation in research write a paper and/or give a public presentation on their work.

Sustaining programs requires clear and practical prioritizing. Administrators need to identify models that relate institutional goals to undergraduate education and to identify best practices for getting students involved.

An important first step in involving students is to define what is meant by "undergraduate research," bridging both faculty and student expectations. It is vital to "sell" the students on the merits of participation, and institutions can take advantage of a variety of ways to inform students of the opportunities open to them. Academic advisors are one valuable resource; they can direct students in the process of choosing classes toward research participation and explain how it would enhance their education.

Faculty are key to selling the benefits of working with undergraduates to their colleagues. By meeting and talking with faculty who have been actively involved with undergraduates, staff and administrators can establish a good base of faculty-student partnerships, which can serve as models and be used to promote more such relationships. Building and sustaining a significant undergraduate research program requires the buy-in of research-active faculty and expanding the number who play a role in undergraduate education.

Unfortunately, the time and effort required to supervise undergraduates is rarely counted as a significant part of a faculty member's teaching responsibilities and such supervision is rarely recognized in promotion and tenure decisions.

The humanities and social sciences face their own set of challenges resulting from the norms of scholarly activity in those disciplines. In contrast with the natural sciences, the humanities and humanistic social sciences do not have a tradition of 'undergraduate research' and the modes of scholarship do not readily lend themselves to collaboration with undergraduates. While research in the sciences is generally carried out by research groups that include graduate students, post-docs, technicians and others as well as the professor, and it relatively easy to add an undergraduate to the group and assign him or her a specific task or segment of the project, scholarship in the social sciences and humanities is usually conducted on an individual basis and faculty-student interactions such as guiding senior theses are almost always one-one-one. Thus supervising undergraduates in these disciplines is extraordinarily labor-intensive. The development of new paradigms that encourage collaborative work and involve graduate students as potential mentors would enable more students to participate in humanistic scholarship.

Examples of Effective Programs

There are two basic models through which undergraduates can participate in research and scholarship. One is an independent study model, in which students seek and secure their own research positions; the other entails a centralized program that may operate at the department, unit, or campus-wide level. Under the independent study model, it can be difficult for students, especially those who are not 'self-starters,' to negotiate the system. Further, this model has no means for encouraging faculty to become involved and no means for formally preparing students for their responsibilities. Centralized programs generally help students find research projects by maintaining listings of positions and advising students on appropriate placements, offer opportunities for students to present or publish their work, provide centralized funding or information about sources of funding, and may sponsor research-prep seminars or workshops. Such programs can increase faculty involvement through outreach activities and through the availability of an administrative infrastructure to reduce some of the paperwork burden on individual faculty members.

Research-prep seminars are especially valuable components of centralized programs, not only helping students acquire the skills they need but also potentially exposing the students to fields outside their major by engaging them in cross-disciplinary discussions of research issues such as ethics.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at the University of Michigan (more fully described in the session led by Sandra Gregerman and Bruno Giordani on "Involving All of the Students") offers one effective model of a campus-wide program that provides opportunities for first- and second-year students to work with faculty on aspects of their research. The program offers students the choice of work-study compensation or academic credit and includes research seminars that introduce students to their chosen discipline and cover topics such as ethics, etiquette, methods, and logic, along with workshops on library research and other specific skills. Individual peer advisors assist students in finding and being successful in a research position. As an incentive to faculty, UROP awards annual mini-grants that can be used to add research components to existing courses, develop new research-based courses, and engage students in large-scale research projects.

The University of California at Los Angeles has established two Undergraduate Research Centers, one for students in the sciences and one for students in the humanities and social sciences. The Centers provide fellowships for undergraduate researchers and sponsor presentation opportunities such as conferences and journals. Advanced graduate students in the humanities and social sciences serve as mentors to undergraduates who are working on projects in these disciplines. This model was described in more detail in the session on Incorporating Graduate Student Participation; the Web addresses for the Centers are listed below.

Recommendations

Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research:

• Incorporate undergraduate research elements into new research and scholarly projects.
  
• Foster collaboration among the faculty, the administration, and the students; all of the constituents need to have a voice in campus-wide initiatives.
• Consider bringing students in before their junior year, because faculty prefer to have students for a minimum of one full year.
• Integrate undergraduates into the research setting and create a feeling of community so they feel comfortable asking questions.
• Be aware of disciplinary differences when structuring research-prep seminars; offer workshops for students on library research, computer software, and other specific topics. Recognize that students in all fields often need help with writing and other skills inherent to conducting research.

Points to Consider:

• Centralized Focus: Is there an office or individual that oversees undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity? What are the merits of such an office and where should it be located?
  
• Resources: What kind of fundraising is done and what are the sources (e.g., the dean's office, private sources)?
• Entry Point: What class-standing (first-year, sophomore, junior) do you want to target?
• Introductory Seminars: Are there seminars to teach students basic skills and provide an overview of their chosen discipline? Do upper-division students mentor lower-division students?
• Visibility: Is undergraduate research publicized on the University's Web site?

Resources

Web sites:
University of Michigan
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP): http://www.umich.edu/~urop/

University of California at Los Angeles
Student Research Program: http://www.college.ucla.edu/up/SRP
Undergraduate Research Centers: http://www.college.ucla.edu/ugresearch/research/centers.html