1. Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR)
COEUR Co-authors
Roger Rowlett, Gordon & Dorothy Kline Professor of Chemistry, Colgate College
Linda Blockus, Director of Undergraduate Research, University of Missouri
Susan Larson, Professor of Psychology, Director of Undergraduate Research, Concordia College
Download:

2. Outline of session A bit about CUR and undergraduate research
Purpose and motivation for COEUR
Overview of COEUR
Executive summary of the major topics addressed in COEUR
Uses for COEUR
Opportunity for discussion and conversation

3. Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org)
Founded in 1978, is a national organization of individual and institutional members representing more than 900 colleges and universities.
Mission of CUR: To support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.

4. CUR activities
Biennial conference & specialized institutes for faculty and administrators, including Undergraduate Research Program Directors
CUR Dialogues (brings faculty/admin. to DC to interact with funders)
Publications and quarterly journal
Advocacy with funding agencies & government
Consulting and Program Review
Now responsible for student-centered annual NCUR meeting

5. Defining Undergraduate Research
CUR Definition: An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.

6. Benefits of undergraduate research
Enhances student learning through mentoring relationships with faculty
Increases retention
Increases enrollment in graduate education and provides effective career preparation
Develops critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and intellectual independence
Develops an understanding of research methodology
Promotes an innovation-oriented culture

7. AAC&U 2013: THE QUALITY OF U. S
AAC&U 2013: THE QUALITY OF U.S. DEGREES: Innovations, Efficiencies, and Disruptions—To What Ends?
Explore a wide range of approaches to quality learning
Address important efforts to increase completion rates and access to higher education, alongside comprehensive efforts to ensure the integrity of college degrees
Make sure that all degrees offer students pathways along which they will creatively engage complex, real-world challenges  
Ensure that these experiences produce assessable evidence of authentic student work and achievement

8. What is COEUR?
COEUR is a summary of best practices that support and sustain highly effective undergraduate research environments
The purpose of COEUR is to provide a guide for those who wish to build, evaluate, and maintain robust, productive, meaningful and sustainable undergraduate research programs
COEUR is for institutions, programs, academic departments, faculty and administrators as they work to develop and enhance their undergraduate research programs

9. Campus mission and culture
A campus culture that values and rewards undergraduate research (UR) is essential.
Institutional commitment to UR
Scholarly faculty and faculty commitment to UR
Broad disciplinary participation by students
Accessible opportunities
Integration with other engaging & high impact opportunities

10. Administrative support
Administrative support and commitment are critical for excellent UR programs.
Intramural budgetary support and, if appropriate, startup funding
Faculty load credit for supervising undergraduate research and for research-related tasks
Student support, including for travel
Research grants office

11. Administrative support: Office of Undergraduate Research
Most successful UR programs have a central office, which oversees campus-wide UR activities
Director of Undergraduate Research
Full- or part-time
Sufficient, well-located space
Infrastructure support, such as support staff, an office and publicity budget

12. Research infrastructure
To sustain productive research and scholarship with undergraduates, research infrastructure is needed.
Space, instrumentation and equipment
Library and computational resources
Research oversight structures
Support, administrative and technical staff

13. Professional development opportunities
Professional development should be available for all those involved in UR.
Research leaves
Mentor training for faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows
Other professional development opportunities, for all involved in UR

14. Recognition
An institution that values UR as an activity integral to its mission will provide clear, tangible forms of recognition for faculty and students.
Acknowledgement of undergraduate research in promotion and tenure guidelines, salary review and campus awards
Prominent publicity for research accomplishments

15. External funding
External funding is essential for the development of a rich, productive, and contemporaneous faculty-student research environment.
Faculty should seek and be supported for seeking external research funding
Institutional research funding should also be available

16. Dissemination of Research
Faculty and students should strive for peer-reviewed dissemination in the form of publications, exhibition or performances.
Other desirable forms of dissemination include
Presentation at professional meetings
Student research conferences
On-campus symposia

17. Student-centered issues
UR experiences should incorporate best practices in undergraduate education and UR programs should strive to integrate student research with other engaging experiences, such as
Capstone and Writing experiences
Study Abroad, Global Learning
Service Learning, Citizenship
Leadership, Student Development
Orientation and First Year Experiences
Peer Communities and Peer Learning

18. Student-centered issues
Other student-centered issues
Creating a community scholars, possibly with peer mentoring/teamwork
Programming to promote professional development
Providing opportunities for early and sustained involvement in UR
Establishing and communicating expectations
Providing developmentally appropriate expectations
Faculty mentor availability

19. Curriculum Research-supportive curriculum
Departments and programs should design curricula that expose students to skills necessary to undertake UR and curricula should be designed in ways to facilitate faculty and student involvement in UR.
Research-supportive curriculum
Integration of teaching and research
Attention to faculty load management
Training opportunities and workshops
E.g., Responsible Conduct of Research
Student course credit for research

20. Summer research program
A robust summer research program is essential to a vibrant UR environment, and includes
Faculty and student compensation
Student access to facilities and student services, including housing
Programming, including research symposia
Coordination between multiple programs and attention to issues for hosting students

21. Assessment activities
Institutions and programs should have multiple approaches to assessment to recognize successes, illuminate gaps, and collect benchmarking data.
Assessment of student learning outcomes
Program assessment and evaluation
Collection of participation/outcome data

22. Assessment activities
Program assessment and evaluation should include
Feedback from faculty and students on their satisfaction with activities
Sustainable method to collect data on participants (e.g., demographic information) and faculty mentors (e.g., outcomes)
Mechanism to track external funding and post-graduate career plans of students

23. Strategic planning
Institutions that aspire to creating and sustaining an excellent undergraduate research environment will have thoughtful and clearly articulated benchmarks and strategic plans.

24. Excellence in UR
These 12 characteristics (and their many sub-characteristics ) work together to create excellent UR programs
"...a successful undergraduate research program must be embedded in the culture of an institution and thereby supported through multiple organizational structures, policies, and programs. By using COEUR to guide efforts aimed at achieving this goal, an institution is much more likely to achieve this desired result.“
Andrea Chapdelaine, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Albright College

25. Faculty support Adequate startup funding
Professional development leave opportunities and travel support
Research grants office
Recognition of undergraduate research in promotion & tenure guidelines
Creating time for faculty

26. Creating time for faculty
Faculty load credit for supervising undergraduate research
Research-supportive curriculum & scheduling
Integration of teaching & research
Technical support staff
Reassigned time for research related-tasks
Undergraduate Research Office/Coordinator

27. Undergraduate research office
Full or part-time coordinator
Interfaces with other campus constituents
Promotes UR to internal and external audiences
Oversees assessment activities
Distributes research funding to students
Coordinates campus-wide research symposium
Can seek grants, implement strategic planning around UR

28. Summer research program
Research-supportive teaching calendar
Student and/or faculty compensation
Affordable student housing/services
Student programming
Student peer community
Summer research symposia
Faculty mentoring as professional development

29. Discussion
Will use this a time to learn how others are moving towards excellence in UR
The successes you have had at your institution in achieving these characteristics
The challenges you have had
What are some things characteristics of excellence COEUR that particularly resonate with you/your campus?

30. Uses of COEUR Purpose of COEUR
To provide a guide for those who wish to build, evaluate, and maintain robust, productive, meaningful and sustainable undergraduate research environments
Serve as a guide to sustain best practices in undergraduate research
Many examples of uses of COEUR in the CUR publication

31. Uses of COEUR Function as a guide for strategic planning
Provide programmatic and institutional benchmarking against national standards
CUR in process of developing a system for institutional reviews making use of COEUR

32. Uses of COEUR Outline a structure for UR self-study
Utilized in assessment and evaluation of UR
Provide guidance for resource allocation decisions
Encourage the development of new initiatives related to UR
Provide a framework for campus discussion and setting priorities

33. Examples of how COEUR is being used
General discussion about the document to improve the undergraduate research experience
Used for integrating undergraduate research in the curriculum
Used to address faculty professional development needs
Used to develop a mission statement or strategic plan around undergraduate research
Used for improving faculty research productivity/support
Used in conversations within departments about workload, evaluation and rewards

34. Discussion and Questions
How can you use the COEUR document/ framework to improve UR on your campus?
How can it be used at different levels in your institution (e.g., by deans or other administrators, faculty, communications, marketing, advancement)?

35. COEUR on-line
Download or purchase a hardcopy, find executive summary here, too:

36. CUR at AAC&U
CUR Session - Developing a Shared Vision to Expand, Sustain, and Connect Undergraduate Research Culture and Practice. 4:15pm, Grand Hall East C
CUR Reception – Friday (5:30-7:00 pm) in the Hanover C Room

37. Upcoming Webinar Faculty Support and Undergraduate Research: Innovation in Faculty Role Definition, Workload, and Reward
Please join Nancy Hensel and Elizabeth Paul as they discuss the issues covered in their new publication
When: Wednesday, February 6th 2-3pm et
Register here:
Pricing:
Enhanced – Complimentary (free to first 50, $20 after)
Institutional Members -- $30
Individual Members -- $50
Non-Members -- $75