Senate Doc #3989S Approved 3/30/89 Undergraduate Research1 at UNCA A Report to the UPC From: Larry Wilson Rationale for continuing an Undergraduate Research focus at UNCA Involvement of undergraduates in scholarly activity reaches back at least to the early twentieth century in American higher education. In the l96O's, following Sputnik, the National Science Foundation began a well-funded Undergraduate Research Program to increase the number of scientists to "catch up with the Soviets!" Scientists (social and natural) and mathematicians in many small private liberal arts colleges seized this federal support opportunity and began aggressive URPs - hence the traditional association of undergraduate research with the scientists. In the last decade, the decline of quantity and often quality of graduate students has caused many faculty to increasingly involve undergraduates in their research. Concurrently, faculties at many of the better undergraduate liberal arts colleges have actively involved faculty-student teams in every discipline in undergraduate research activity and in some cases made undergraduate research a graduation requirement for all students. As some of you know, I prefer the term Teaching Scholar to describe scholarly and creative activity at a teaching oriented, undergraduate, liberal arts university/college. The ideal is to teach well as a scholar, actively engaged in the substance of one's chosen profession. Far from being incompatible, teaching and scholarly/creative activity are inextricably linked, each informing the other. If one thinks of teaching and scholarly/creative activity as so linked, then it is a natural extension of one's teaching to involve students in scholarship and creative work. Sometimes "student researchers" can be intimately involved in a faculty member's own work, thereby forming a senior-junior partnership where each teaches the other.   1While I use the term Undergraduate Research because it has become the common term to describe this activity, I prefer to think of it as scholarly and creative activity which encompasses all disciplines and involves undergraduates working with their faculty. Page 2 At other times student scholarly/creative activity is more independent of the faculty member's interests and a less well-defined partnership will develop, but even in these cases the teaching should go both ways although more likely in unequal quantities. I believe students at a liberal arts college should learn that, among other things, doing history, being a philosopher, teaching literature, means wrestling with the problems of one's discipline. One must engage in intellectual wrestling with peers to ensure that one's analytical and thinking skills are at their highest level and to be sure that one is not conveying false or misleading information or presenting out-dated ways of looking at problems or methodology. We need to convey this sense of wrestling to our students who are all too prone to think that knowledge' means the "facts" and that being educated means reciting the correct facts in the proper order. Our students should come to see that being educated means having a set of skills they can use to understand the world and themselves, to make their way through life with some sense of assurance and dignity, with a vision of themselves as educated and rational persons in a world that can be understood. Part of that educational process is learning a set of skills exemplified by master practitioners in the various disciplines. One vital way to develop those skills is through undergraduate research - the teaching of discovery which sometimes may contribute to new knowledge. Assumptions 1. The undergraduate research experience which we expanded and highlighted under the UNCA Distinctive program has enriched the educational opportunities for UNCA students. 2. The support afforded the undergraduate research project under Distinctive funding enabled UNCA to advance to the cutting edge of what may become a national movement to incorporate more independent scholarly and creative activity into the curriculum of undergraduate students. Our involvement with this movement has attracted regional and national recognition for the University. 3. UNCA Distinctives are given four years of special funding to explore development to a stage that they either become a permanent part of the university, hence supported by independent funds or incorporated into the operating budget, or the project disappears. Undergraduate Research is at a crossroads. Without a new structure and some funding, it will survive in some departments and programs at a greatly reduced level of activity and visibility while perhaps disappearing in others. If this occurs, we will soon lose our position on the cutting edge of Page 3 whatever national movement may result. Question: Would this loss of position matter to the University and to our educational program? 4. I believe that the undergraduate research project should continue beyond the Distinctive funding period. In order to continue development of the UR experience and enhance its accessibility to students and faculty, a modest administrative structure needs to be developed and sustained. This structure should involve both faculty and administration. 5. The undergraduate research experience should be accessible to a range of students beyond those in the Honors Program. Hence, the UR Program must not be formally linked to the Honors Program. Structure: 1. Create an Office of Undergraduate Research with a faculty member as Director (review of program performance, particularly with regard to fund raising, in Spring 1991). The Director shall receive 6 hrs/yr of release time from teaching plus this responsibility will be counted as equivalent to a major committee assignment, thereby freeing the Director from some campus committee work and other service. 2. Entitle: Undergraduate Research Program The term "Program" is chosen because we currently apply the term to a variety of credit and a few non-credit bearing activities and because it typically conveys an organized activity with some official status. "Activity" is too diffuse and "project" may be too narrow. "Track" or "Concentration" do not seem to fit for undergraduate research is typically of shorter duration (4-18 months) and should be an enhancement of one's course of study rather than a prolonged involvement which is likely to be career-oriented. 3. Responsibilities of the Director a. promote undergraduate research activity in all academic disciplines by encouraging faculty to involve students in their scholarly and creative work b. seek outside funding to enhance UR activity in both AY and S and to reduce university overhead (work with VCAA, VCUR) c. nurture on-campus seminars and workshops on UR - including a special UNCA Research, Scholarly and Creative activity event which would highlight each year's activity d. serve as external promoter of our involvement in UR Page 4 e. promote active annual participation of UNCA faculty and students in the National Conference on Undergraduate Research; coordinate selection of papers to be submitted f. continue publication of the Proceedings of the NCUR on a contract basis, insuring that full costs are met and, if possible, continuing to net a small profit for UNCA to assist in sending participants to the NCUR g. supervise publication of the UNCA Journal of Undergraduate Research, determine its scope, size, audience, format, and method of publishing and funding - in 1989-90 the Undergraduate Fellows are serving as editorial board h. serve as a member of the Advisory Board to the Honors Program i. assist the Director of the Honors Program on aspects of recruitment of Undergraduate Fellows and Scholars - transfer the main responsibility of this task to the Director of the Honors Program in order to keep separate the role of the two programs j. serve as the secondary academic advisor to the Undergraduate Fellows and assist in their acclimation to UNCA k. work with the Director of the Honors Program in designing and implementing the summer programs for the Undergraduate Fellows - assuming primary responsibility for the third summer which involves undergraduate research l. report to VCAA (or designee); provide regular program reports on UR to the Faculty and a comprehensive annual report (program plus budget) to the VCAA. 4. Supervision of URP Role of Advisory Council: a. to set policy for URP b. to monitor progress of URP c. to serve as sounding board for URP, faculty and students d. to develop a working definition of whatconstitutes an appropriate UR project and methods for determining satisfactory completion VCAA appoint Advisory Council (URPAC) consisting of: - one faculty member from - arts, humanities, social Page 5 sciences, natural sciences/math (2 yr. staggered terms) - two members of University Research Council - two students involved in UR (1 yr terms) Director of URP is ex officio member as is VCAA (or designee) Program Operation - Items in this section are to be considered by the URP Advisory Council and proposals developed for consideration by the appropriate bodies. 1. Admission to the URP is by application to the Dlrector; the project must be approved by the URPAC. 2. Satisfactory completion of an undergraduate research project will result in such designation on the final transcript. The URPAC, working with the faculty supervisor, will determine satisfactory completion. 3. Students may continue to enroll in departmental independent study and research projects which are not a part of the URP. 4. Normally supervision of URP students will not count as a part of faculty teaching responsibilities. However, the URPAC will be asked to study this situation and, if necessary, recommend to the VCAA guidelines for modification of this policy. e.g.: number of students supervised at one time extent of faculty involvement in their research 5. A maximum of 8 hours of UR credit may be included in the 120 hours required for graduation. 6. Proposals for new aspects of the program operation must be approved by the VCAA and UPC and, if appropriate, by the Faculty Senate. Budget Director - two course release/yr (if replace) $ 3,200 Clerical - 1/2 time to project but should 8,000 be in office with full-time presence - share with another unit (e.g. Humanities and MLA = 1.0) Travel - to NCUR, grant seeking 600 Supplies 500 Printing  800 $ 13,500 Page 6