The Value of Assessment
Powerpoint Presentation

Leader: David P. Roselle, President, University of Delaware

Summary of Presentation

The University of Delaware [UD]'s Undergraduate Research Program was founded in 1980 as part of the University Honors Program, in conjunction with the creation of an Honors Degree. A three-year FIPSE grant provided funds to pilot the Program's design and operation. Like other Honors Program offerings, the Undergraduate Research Program was open to all interested undergraduates, including lower-division students. The Program served as a "match-maker," helping faculty and students with similar interests find each other and maintaining a clearinghouse of information for both faculty and students, and provided modest supply-and-expense funds to help support students' projects. University-wide guidelines were developed for awarding credit and a contact person was identified for every academic department and research center.

In the Program's third year, outside experts from the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology evaluated the program. Based on their evaluations, a "Summer Scholar" program was founded in 1983. The funds initially came from corporate donors, but eventually every college, department and research center in engineering and the sciences provided additional summer scholarships, and University funding is now available for Summer Scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences as well. Currently more than 200 students are centrally funded as Summer Scholars, in addition to those supported by individual faculty grants. Another 400 to 500 students work with faculty on various projects throughout the year.

Two major all-University presentation events were developed for students: a poster session for students in the spring of their junior year, and a symposium for students in the spring of their senior year. In the mid-1990s, as a result of the increasing number of participants, including non-Honors students, the Undergraduate Research Program was separated from the Honors Program. In 2000, the Undergraduate Research Program was given its own building with offices for advisers, an undergraduate research library, and student meeting and presentation space.

Notable aspects of the Program include the high level of faculty participation and the strong representation of the arts, humanities and social sciences. Two-thirds of UD's faculty - including more than 60 percent of the faculty in the arts, humanities, and social sciences and more than 90 percent of the entire science and engineering faculty - supervise students. More than 40 percent of the 2002 Summer Scholars were in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Another special aspect of the program is its collaboration with the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program; Students in UD's McNair Program experience in-depth undergraduate research and 100 percent of its graduates have gone on immediately to graduate programs with full funding (in comparison, the national average placement rate is 33 percent). In addition, the Undergraduate Research Program works to foster international experiences, for instance through placing students in the labs of foreign colleagues during study-abroad semesters, alumni scholarships for individual students to conduct their own research abroad, and an undergraduate research exchange program with Imperial College of the University of London for students in the sciences and engineering. This year, UD's Center for International Studies started the Discovery Abroad Research Expedition program to expand the number of opportunities available to students.

The Program's outcomes have been impressive. In the past 10 years, graduates have included four Rhodes Scholars as well as recipients of Mitchell, Truman, National Science Foundation and other major graduate fellowships. Those students who do not go on to graduate study find the undergraduate research experience valuable as well, frequently reporting that it was their most significant experience at the University. A profile of one graduate, Len Stark, provides an example of what an undergraduate research project can lead to. As a political science major, he wrote a senior honors thesis on "Personality and Presidential Selection: Evaluating Character and Experience in the 1988 Election." Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a master's degree at Oxford, where he researched British political leadership. His master's thesis became a book, published simultaneously in England and the U.S.: Choosing a Leader: Party Leadership Contests in Britain from Macmillan to Blair. After graduating from Yale Law School, he became an Assistant United States Attorney in Wilmington, Delaware. He now works actively and creatively with other alumni to develop scholarships for innovative student projects.

Assessment of the Undergraduate Research Program has had manifold benefits. Documentation of the program's value encouraged the University to expand the program. The evaluations have been useful in interactions with external constituencies, including the state legislature, donors, prospective students and parents. Assessments led to a better understanding of what motivates faculty to supervise undergraduates and sustains their participation, and provided guidelines for evaluating other efforts related to undergraduate education. In sum, assessment has given visibility to the University's efforts by demonstrating their effectiveness.

Resources

Web sites:
University of Delaware
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program: http://www.udel.edu/UR/
RAIRE-funded Assessment Studies: http://www.udel.edu/RAIRE/
Center for International Studies: http://international.udel.edu/

Video: "Research Works for Students:" http://www.udel.edu/UR/video.html