Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Workshop on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Report from the CUR Workshop Team

Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) The CUR mission is to support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. CUR includes ten organizational divisions focused on the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, research administration, etc. CUR organizes and has CUR Dialogues-including networking sessions with grant agencies, proposal writing workshops, etc. Publications on grant writing, faculty mentoring, etc. A national meeting that focuses on the CUR mission to support and advance undergraduate research A relatively new series of workshops on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research SUNY Oneonta joined CUR in 2008 and sent a team to the 2008 NE Workshop on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research

2008 NE Regional Workshop A volunteer team was organized. 1 administrator and 3 faculty, from both academic divisions All had to be from NSF supported disciplines, a CUR requirement for this NSF-sponsored workshop However, this does not mean that the team only represented the interests of these disciplines. A “campus wide” approach was taken. In late-August, the team met and decided to apply to participate in the workshop A few weeks later, Oneonta’s application was accepted and an institutional self-study was completed. Information was solicited via department chairs due to the tight timeline. The NE Regional Workshop was held September at BSC.

2008 NE Regional Workshop Oneonta Team: Bischoff, Guzy, Merilan and Schaumloffel 8 Institutions: Keystone College, Nazareth College, Providence College, Siena College, SUNY Cortland, U. Maine, U. New England, SUNY Oneonta. Plenary Sessions, Networking Sessions, Facilitator-lead working sessions The overall goal is to develop an Action Plan for Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Follow up activities (CUR): Team invited to 2009 CUR Dialogues Conference in April (2 registrations paid by CUR) Site visit to campus by CUR affiliated consultant within 1 year

CUR Team General Impressions SUNY Oneonta does not have an accepted definition of undergraduate research. Having such a definition would make it easier to focus efforts on supporting undergraduate research. SUNY Oneonta already has a substantial quantity of resources in various programs that can support undergraduate research. Although this probably exceeds those of other workshop participants, our resources are spread out across multiple programs with widely variable application procedures Most institutions that have well developed undergraduate research programs have an “Office of Undergraduate Research” and/or a “Coordinator of Undergraduate Research” There needs to be a better system of supporting, recognizing and rewarding faculty who collaborate with students on undergraduate research projects at Oneonta

Proposed Action Plan Summary Report to the college administration and present them a copy of the Proposed Action Plan. The full action plan is available on the College Senate website. Engage faculty and the College Senate in defining what undergraduate research is at SUNY Oneonta. Promote the balance of the Proposed Action Plan and present it to the faculty, staff and professionals at the College. The purpose of this presentation.

Proposed Action Plan Summary Campus-wide buy-in to the value of research with undergraduates and the products and successes that arise from those activities This includes a common definition of what is meant by research, scholarship and creative activities Increased dissemination about, and utilization of, campus-wide resources to support undergraduate research

Proposed Action Plan Summary Seek new avenues of support, available throughout the year, that are insulated from internal and external political, fiscal and other influences that arise from being a “system” institution Encourage and support integration of undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activities in the disciplinary curricula, during the academic year and the summer

Proposed Action Plan Summary A well-developed campus support structure to foster faculty development, mentoring, grant writing and submission Systematic, individual recognition of faculty and undergraduate researchers which rewards them and furthers their personal and career objectives Assessment of impacts of enhanced research and scholarly activities

Defining Undergraduate Research An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student in collaboration with a faculty member that generates new knowledge and makes an original, intellectual, or creative contribution to the discipline.