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Undergraduate Research Programs Can Also Be Faculty Development Programs

Infusing Undergraduate Research into Historically Black Colleges and Universities Curricula

ISBN: 978-1-78560-159-0, eISBN: 978-1-78560-158-3

Publication date: 31 October 2015

Abstract

Typical undergraduate research programs involving HBCU students have several weaknesses including the short time of the students’ involvement in the research and the variable level of commitment of faculty mentors. Another issue at HBCUs is the lack of both start-up support for new faculty and external research support, which limits the quality of research projects and the pool of faculty mentors. We designed our NSF-funded undergraduate research program to be a professional development program to help faculty expand their research program and improve their mentoring skills, while at the same time involving undergraduates in research.

Faculty in STEM departments competed for Student Support Grants that provided support for research-related equipment, supplies, travel, and up to two students for one year. Faculty submitted proposals describing their research project, the role of students in the project, and their student mentoring plan. Faculty mentors could recruit their own students for the project, and both faculty mentors and students were required to commit to the research project for one year.

Outcomes of the program were very positive for both the faculty and the students. All of the involved students presented their research at conferences and several were co-authors on research publications. All but a few of the students continued working in research even after their time in the program was over. In addition, many of the supported faculty members were able to use the financial support as a springboard for successful applications for other grant programs.

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Citation

Harrington, M.A., Smolinski, T.G., Lloyd, A. and Shahin, M. (2015), "Undergraduate Research Programs Can Also Be Faculty Development Programs", Infusing Undergraduate Research into Historically Black Colleges and Universities Curricula (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 115-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420150000017006

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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