UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN SELECTED US UNIVERSITIES
REPORT ON US VISIT - INSTITUTIONAL CASE STUDIES
Richard Huggins, Alan Jenkins and David Scurry
Oxford Brookes University
February 2007
1.
Introduction
"..The research universities have often failed, and continue to fail their undergraduate
populations, thousands of students graduate without seeing the world - famous
professors or tasting genuine research." University of Stony Brook (1998, 3)
Reinventing Undergraduate Education: Boyer Commission on Educating
Undergraduates in the Research University.
In Scholarship Reconsidered Ernest Boyer (1990, X11) challenged US higher
education to “break away out of the tired old teaching versus research debate.”
An Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) gives
undergraduates the opportunity to participate in the research activities of the
institution’s academic staff and postgraduates. The Imperial College scheme,
which is modelled on that at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Collier, 1998:
349).
This report presents the key findings of a trip to the USA in October 2006 that was
funded by the Reinvention Centre with the aim of learning from some of the best US
practice in establishing undergraduate research programmes and relatedly of
community based undergraduate research programmes.
“Undergraduate research” is taken to be a form of curriculum and/or learning that is
most strongly based in US higher education. There are variations to its form which
include undergraduate students learning through various forms of research based
/inquiry learning, often strongly supported by academic staff and at times on faculty
research projects, work undertaken in the summer vacation or in semester breaks, at
times rewarded by credit and at times by pay and at times involved in a scholarly and
research based way with local communities/. Often undergraduate research is for
selected students and is outside the formal institutional and departmental curriculum.
In some institutions it is largely focused on “honours students” i.e. those students
with high grades in special programmes. However there is now an increasing
emphasis in some US institutions to mainstream this curricula form and to credit it
and/or link more firmly with the mainstream curriculum – and make it available for all
students irrespective of grades 1.
In the USA major funding streams, such as the National Science Foundation and the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are important financial supporters of
undergraduate research. In addition the Council on Undergraduate Research in
Washington DC and its affiliated institutions works with agencies and foundations to
support undergraduate research. There are now a range of UK institutions and
1
Note we do not here consider the various US senior (fourth year) thesis style
courses that are similar to the UK dissertation requirements. We focus on those
courses – particularly in years one to three – where students clearly learn as
researchers in their discipline, mentored by faculty.
1
research councils that are seeking to adapt undergraduate research to the UK
(Jenkins: 2006).
2.
Institutions Visited: An Overview of Contexts
In section three of this report we provide summaries of the policies, practices and
approaches from the institutions visited that provide possible models to adapt to
Brookes, Warwick and elsewhere in the UK with the aim of further strengthening
institutional strategies to link teaching and research (Jenkins and Healey, 2005).
Before that though we provide a brief outline of institutions visited and the contexts in
which they and their programmes have been developed and are delivered. Note the
institutions we chose to visit were those in North East USA with well-developed
undergraduate and/or community based research programmes and to an extent
where we already had good contacts. This we considered would give us better
access to strong programmes which had worked out much about how to develop
effective policies and practices.
Though there are key differences between each of the institutions in terms of mission
and resources – including endowment income - Boston, Michigan, Penn State and
MIT are clearly research-intensive institutions. Nationally these have reacted to the
strong public criticisms of research intensive universities – particularly in the Report
of the Boyer Commission (University of Stony Brook, 1998) - for failing to take
undergraduate teaching seriously. A central response has been to develop or
strengthen undergraduate research programmes that seek to capitalise on the strong
research traditions and resources of those institutions (Katkin 2003). By contrast
Bates College builds on the strong scholarly teaching traditions characteristic of
liberal arts colleges and universities in the US. In addition, the scheme reported from
Penn State builds on the civic engagement mission of the US Land Grant
Universities and current US concerns to develop the “scholarship of engagement”
(i.e. where students and staff undertake scholarly work with and for the wider
community2).
While those US contexts clearly shape the approaches and policies of the institutions
we visited we also consider that many positive aspects of their practice can be
creatively adapted to developing undergraduate programmes in a wide range of
institutions in the UK.
Table 1
Institution
Penn State
University
University of
Michigan
Tufts University
MIT
Institutions Visited: Timetable and Main Web-Links
Who
Alan Jenkins
Alan Jenkins
Richard Huggins
Alan Jenkins
Richard Huggins
Dave Scurry
Richard Huggins
Dave Scurry
Date
Web
4th-6th October http://www.publicscholarship.psu.edu/
9th-10th http://www.umich.edu/
October
12th October http://activecitizen.tufts/edu
13th October http://web.mit.edu/
2
The Warwick, Brookes, Coventry FDTL project – Politics in Action
http://www.politicsinaction.ac.uk/ is seeking to adapt the “scholarship of engagement”
to the UK.
2
Boston University
Alan Jenkins
Bates College
Alan Jenkins
Dave Scurry
3.
13th October http://www.bu.edu/bulletins
/und/item04.html
th
th
17 -18 http://www.bates.edu/
October
Themes Pursues and Questions Asked
Given below are the broad questions we decided on before we went and sent to
institutions and which guided aspects of the visit. Clearly, when we looked at
individual programmes and discussed issues with colleagues at different institutions
the questions changed and new ones emerged.
3.1.
Structures and Organisation of U/G and Community Based Research
Schemes
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How would you characterise your approach to undergraduate
research/community based research?
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What would you identify as the key values and contributions of your scheme
to:
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Student learning
Student personal development
External Community and organisations
Internal academic, intellectual and organisational culture

How does your scheme operate?

When do students undertake this programme?
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How long is the programme?

How are students recruited to the programme - Is it elective, selective or
open?
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How is the programme administered?
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How is the programme funded?
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Are students paid?
3.2
Course Design, Delivery and Credit Rating

Is the programme
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discipline/subject based
extra-curricula
cross-programme
structured i.e. major/minor/discrete option etc.
credit-rated and how much credit-rating does it carry?
How is the programme assessed? (Coursework, research findings/report,
etc.).
3

3.3
How does the programme function across different subject areas/disciplines?
Role and Value of U/G and Community Based Research Schemes

Why do they offer the programme?

What is the value to students/staff/stakeholders?

How does the programme support student development in
 research skills
 learning skills
 employability
3.4
Student Support and Achievement

How are students supported on the programme?

Do they receive separate research training/development?

What technical support is available?

How do they manage ethics approval?
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Have they measured the impact?
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What is the impact on the student
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3.5
Experience
Attainment
Retention
Curriculum Development and Design

How does this programme feed into wider academic development and
curriculum development and design?

How does the scheme contribute to the development of social capital,
community and individual capacity?

How is good practice shared and disseminated?

How is the programme linked to the wider curriculum?

How is feedback from students/staff/stakeholders collected, monitored and
fed into programme development?

How does the programme link to other aspects of the course, e.g. projects,
lab work, dissertation/senior thesis?
4
4. Institutional Descriptions: Summaries of Approaches, Policies and Practice
4.1 Bates College
Bates College3 is a private liberal arts and science wholly undergraduate institution.
Some 1,700 students are taught by approximately 170 faculty most of whom have
doctorates and are tenure track. Student staff ratio is around 10:1 with an average
class size of 20. Fees are set at c. $43,000 a year but are in fact reduced to c.
$14,000 through a strong endowment fund. A once largely local college now enjoys
national and increasingly international student recruitment. National rankings place
Bates among the top 25 liberal arts colleges in the US.
In terms of the link between teaching and research senior staff characterised the
institution as one which sees itself as at the intersection of teaching and research
and seeks to break away from the characterisation of these two activities as binary
categories. This is supported by an approach to staff recruitment which requires
demonstrable effectiveness in both teaching and research and is backed by a range
of policies including limiting faculty buying themselves out of teaching if they receive
external research grants. In effect, faculty must be clearly committed to both teaching
and research.
There is a strong focus on requiring/crediting students to do significant research
through the senior thesis/capstone requirement and there is strong emphasis (but not
a requirement) for community engaged research. One senior staff member
interviewed saw only around 2% of US institutions, namely selected liberal
arts/science undergraduate institutions rather than the research intensive such as
Michigan et al as being able to deliver such a mission. But they considered that
aspects of its approach and particular innovations could be adapted elsewhere.
Indeed, the Harward Center (see below) sees its national and indeed international
role as exploring and demonstrating the potential of the liberal arts and science
education for civic engagement.
The key features of undergraduate research and (and to a somewhat lesser extent)
community based research include:
First Year Seminar - The expectation is that all students in year one will take one
“freshman seminar” characterised by a small class with a senior instructor and a
focus on investigation, inquiry and writing. The Instructor is their advisor until they
declare a major in the second year. (Note many North American Institutions have
developed similar courses and requirements (Goodman and Pascarella 2006)).
Five Week Short Term - The college year is divided into two and one “short term”.
For example, the Academic Year may be constituted as follows:
Semester One: Sept 6/7 - Dec 16/17
Semester Two: Jan 8 - April 15
“Short term” from April 20 - May 30
In a four year programme all students have to take two short-term courses, including
one in their final year (thus ensuring they are there on graduation day). During this
short term students take only one intensive “5 days-a-week” course. This course may
3
Lewiston, Maine.
5
be interdisciplinary and focuses on forms of inquiry/research based learning. In
addition such a course may be community based or may include US or international
field work/travel and a few other US institutions have adopted this model.
Summer Studentships - As at Michigan and Boston there are a wide range of
endowed programmes providing financial support to students to undertake (credit
bearing) summer research projects.
Mount David Summit - The Mount David Summit is the annual campus-wide
celebration of student academic achievement, highlighting undergraduate research;
student creative work in art, dance, theatre, music and film/video; projects conducted
in the context of academic courses and service-learning. Students present their work
in poster sessions, in 15-minute talks scheduled in concurrent sessions, or in
readings, performances, screenings, and exhibitions. The Summit is a large scale
event with many posters and presentations, is festive and informative and draws a
large crowd of students, faculty, staff and parents. It provides a “wonderful
opportunity for younger students to test their presentation skills in a supportive
environment, and gives more advanced students the chance to present their
individual research to a wide audience” (Web site description). Prizes and awards are
presented to selected students.
Note this event is timed to ensure that many parents are visiting the campus and is
towards the end of the second semester. Also current and potential donors/sponsors
of undergraduate research/artistic creation/community based research are invited.
One member of support staff assigned to support this event for a limited period of the
year and intensively for approximately two weeks. Students register electronically to
participate but need a member of faculty to approve their abstract and application.
Many departments organise their own events to complement this institution wide
event and to better prepare students to later participate in the institution wide Mount
David Summit.
Service Learning and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships - Bates4
has a strong social service, citizenship ethos (it was founded by abolitionists in 1865
and gave early support for black and female enrolment at the College) and more
recently with has developed a strong focus on “service learning and supporting
students as active informed citizens” (as has Penn State). Recently this public
service mission has been greatly strengthened in scale and given a more clearly
central academic focus.
The Harward Center for Community Partnerships - Formally established in 2005
though based on a pre-existing significant service learning mission and a range of
programmes. The new Centre supports eight full time staff. Its Head is David Scobey,
internationally renowned scholar and educator who was previously Director of the
4
Bates is in Lewinston, a former mill town, with a strong French Canadian heritage
and the town’s economy has recently suffered badly from mill closures. In the past
the relationship between the college and the local community has not always been
an easy one. However, the previous President made major efforts to link effectively
to local communities and ensured volunteer and credit based service learning is a
central feature of the institution. In his honour the University Trustees founded a
major endowed centre – the Harward Centre for Community Partnerships named
after that Bates President.
6
Arts of Citizenship Program at the University of Michigan (see also University of
Michigan, below)
The central goals of the Centre include:

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Based on previous service learning, student and staff volunteering – building
a strong scholarly research based approach that both supports community
development but also transforms teaching and research in the disciplines.
Transforming the nature of service learning so that it both transforms the
pedagogy of student learning while also becoming a serious intellectual task
for students, faculty and for disciplines. Service learning should offer
opportunities for making this serious academic work central to higher
education (Scobey, in press) and not leaving it as peripheral aspect in units
such as careers or student services.
One important priority is working with faculty and community partners as a
“Collaboratory” to transform in term and out of term research learning
opportunities and the mainstream curricula in the disciplines at Bates.
One of the eight full time staff – the Director of Service Learning - has the sole
role of working in the communities around Bates and in the institution to set
up long-term collaborative scholarly relationships. This role includes
supporting faculty to prepare students to work and learn in the community.
She is supported by another full time member of staff to do this work.
“Community” clearly centres on Lewiston – Auburn the town in which Bates is
located but also extends in Maine, Washington DC and at present in Rwanda.
Amongst the range of grants available for faculty are Harward Center Grants
up to $6000 which may support a wide array of publicly-engaged academic
projects. There are also a range of grants to support student (community
based) research. http://www.bates.edu/X154084.xml.
Thinking Beyond the Semester - As with the Michigan Arts in Community project
the Harward Centre seeks to build long term projects founded in community needs
and student and faculty research interests that enable students and faculty to work
with community partners within semester based courses on issues of common
concern. The projects are co-generated by community partners and faculty. Thus one
current project has local museum staff working with humanities students and faculty
to develop a travelling exhibit about Lewiston’s mills and mill workers in the twentieth
century. This includes students learning and using oral history research
methodologies to interview former mill workers.
Mellon Learning Associate - (supported by Andrew Mellon Foundation) works with
college staff and community partners to create curricula that support the goals of the
Harward Centre/Bates College. Such work will vary immensely depending on the
curricula being created for Mellon Associates work across the whole curriculum
including work that is community based. Such associates could be community based
artists nearby or at a distance who become resident for a limited period, or faculty.
Generally such grants are created by faculty bidding for a particular expertise to
support one or more of their courses.
Imagining America - Bates and the Harward Center is centrally involved in the
national organisation Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life,
a consortium of approximately 75 colleges and universities committed to public
scholarship in the arts, humanities and design http://www.ia.umich.edu/ (Koch 2005).
7
4.2 Boston University
Undergraduate Research Opportunities programme was founded in 1997 to “promote
participation by undergraduate students in independent, faculty mentored research
projects across all disciplines in the university” (Goodman, 2006). While
undergraduate research had long existed in various forms, Boston University needed
a central resource and clearing house to coordinate and develop this experience.
The development of the UROP programme built on and linked a range of existing
semi-independent initiatives.

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The program reported directly to the university provost and its funding came
through a mix of the university’s annual budget and until recently a portion of
gifts to BU’s Parents Fund. (i.e. a fund of parent donations to BU. Parents
could directly target their donations to this programme).
A core group of faculty from a range of disciplines shape the programme.
2006 budget includes University funding of $ 395,000 which though a
significant increase on initial allocation is low by the standards of the well
funded programmes such as MIT et al.
Extra funds for directly supporting student research comes from corporate,
public and private donors (including parents). This programme is very popular
with parents who have witnessed their children’s participation in the
programme and with external donors (this a recurring theme at the institutions
visited). In addition major research funders such as NSF enable and /require
undergraduate student involvement in selected research projects they fund.
The programme is staffed by Programme Director (0.2) who is focussed on
strategic development and external links (including public and corporate
donors). There is now a firm view that this person has to be a senior
academic with a strong reputation inside the University with a commitment to
research and to teaching. An Assistant Director 1.0 responsible for
programme administration and evaluating student experience. A Programme
Administrator 0.7 and an Undergraduate Research Support Officer 0.5,
employed in the summer to support the greater range of programmes at that
time.
Funding also available to support and/or pay selected students (see below).
Nearly all studentships are for individual students – though there is some
move to also supporting small groups on the same project.
Students will be supported through pay, credit or through volunteering.
Students cannot ‘double dip’ i.e. receive both credit and pay for the same
work.
Faculty post on the UROP web-site details of projects they will support/advise
on. Students also search for mentors through those teaching them and
through faculty research web sites and contacting faculty directly.
Students work with faculty to submit applications describing goals, methods
and requesting funds for pay, research expenses and travel funds.
UROP staff sees one of the strengths of the programme is that the students'
funding applications include aspects of a federal grant application format, and
they are evaluated competitively by a faculty committee. Students get advice
and help with the application from their faculty mentors and the staff of the
UROP office. Approximately 70% of applications are funded. UROP awards
can be given to the same student more than once if there is evidence of
sufficient progress on the initial project.
Applications reviewed in Fall, Spring and Summer funding rounds. The
research varies as to timing but is carried on throughout the year and some
8

parts of the programme are clearly focussed on the summer. In summer most
of the projects supported are non credit based.
In 2005 UROP directly funded 150 students and across the University. In
addition many more did some form of undergraduate research through this
funding, through credit or through volunteering (out of around 15,000
undergraduates).
Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium - Each autumn during Homecoming
and Parents Weekend, UROP hosts the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Most
funding and many credit UROPs require students to produce a poster and to be
present to discuss their research. Senior university staff attends the Symposium and
awards are made to selected students. Other students and faculty are encouraged to
attend as are parents, current and potential donors and other stakeholders.
Key Recent Changes /Developments include:






4.3
The decision to ensure that the Director is a senior academic with strong
research and teaching focus.
A concern that the programme is not sufficiently reaching the humanities and
social sciences - at one point 97% of awards went to science and engineering
students. This partly because such students could more readily join in lab
based research - but also because then the committee deciding on awards
was mainly science based and the view and then definition of “undergraduate
research” focused on primary research and publication.
Development of a wider, more inclusive view of undergraduate research and
students can now submit proposals “for any scientific or scholarly activity that
leads to: the production of new knowledge, increased problem-solving
capabilities (including design and analysis) and original critical or historical
theory and interpretation.”
A greater determination to (also) mainstream “undergraduate research” into
the mainstream curriculum: e.g. a large introductory year one chemistry
course is being revised so that all students do minor research projects and
then some can then apply for summer studentships to take this research
forward.
Undergraduate Research Office to become a unit supporting undergraduate
research across the university including in the mainstream curriculum and not
just UROP students.
Recognition that tenure/promotion procedures need to support this.
MASSACHUSSETS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)
This institution is particularly interested in the “melding” of undergraduate research,
service learning and community based research and more so than some of the
others we visited seems to see less of a distinction among the three activities. On the
other hand colleagues we spoke to noted that the definition of what constitutes
undergraduate research was, to some extent, always “up for grabs” and that there
were significant differences between approaches in the Arts and Humanities, Social
Sciences, Engineering and the Natural Sciences. Main schemes/Activities include:
UROP Undergraduate Research Programme - founded in 1969, this programme
had 3,000 projects, involving 2,000 students (about half of a total u/g population of
4,000) in 2005/06. Centralized operations and oversight for UROP are handled by a
group of staff in MIT's Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming
9
(UAAP); UAAP also manages the financial portfolio that supports the direct funding
process.
Students connect with a faculty member and develop a project which is then
approved at an academic level within the department by two members of staff. The
project then goes forward for consideration by the UROP program staff which
provides recognition for the project and ensures that the project is suitable. The
project must meet two principle criteria for approval by UROP - the student must be
actively engaged in research and the project must be worthy of academic credit. In
2006, 84% of graduating students had participated in the UROP scheme5. UROP
program staff provides support and resources to the research projects and
staff/student collaborations and the research community at MIT and the central
operation is seen as critical in making the UROP an effective programme. Funding
comes from a variety of sources including endowments, expendable gifts, Federal
Work-Study funds and a significant amount comes from faculty and departmental
sources.
A major appeal of MIT UROP is its breadth and flexibility regarding academic and
administrative parameters. UROP can be done in - all - disciplines at MIT. Besides
science and engineering, it happens in architecture, social science, management and
arts and humanities (meaning of course, that "research" needs a variety of
interpretations). A considerable amount takes place in interdisciplinary areas. All
registered undergraduates are eligible, and students are not restricted to conducting
UROP research within their own majors.
UROP is seen as a chief means for undergraduates to connect with faculty outside
the classroom, and this has been supported over the years through survey and
student feedback.
MIT Public Service Center – the Director of the Center stressed the practical nature
of MIT and that the role of the Center is equally education and public service.
Students learn and benefit communities worldwide through the practical applications
of the skills and expertise and research experience that MIT undergraduates possess
and undertake.
The Center aims to mainstream public service as much as possible and encourages
all departments to become involved by matching modes of public service to the aims,
objectives and interests of the students. Furthermore, the Center maintains that
“deep” understanding of disciplinary subject content, disciplinary skills and methods
can be developed through public engagement and that service learning does
encourage the development of a whole range of skills including, communication,
analysis, project management, confidence and inter-personal skills. The Center has
established a paid Summer Fellowship scheme which pays students $10.00 per hour
to work in community projects at a local, national and international level. There are
around 50 Fellowships each year, although there are many more applicants than can
be funded and greater resources would allow for significant growth of this scheme. In
addition to this scheme the Centre supports a range of other service learning
opportunities including volunteer placements, term-time fellowships, provision of
advice, the development local programmes and a widespread grant scheme, which
includes a recently established match-funding expedition grant.
5
The programme is not compulsory nor does the UROP have a target of 100%
participation. This is seen as neither popular with Faculty nor beneficial to the ethos
and “flavour” of the programme.
10
MIT Washington Summer Internship Programme – offers up to fifteen summer
internships for undergraduate students in Washington, DC and awards $5,000 in the
form of a stipend and accommodation in Washington. The programme is not
designed for Political Science students but is more of an attempt to encourage
Science and Engineering students to experience and engage with the political
processes and organisations of the Capital. The funding comes from MIT’s
Department of Political Science, University central funds and some external funds.
The scheme is “one of the things” MIT is known for but is a very competitive and a
selective scheme that is hard to get into.
4.4
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
The University of Michigan offers a wide range of institutional and departmental
programmes which support both undergraduate and community based research
including:
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program: UROP - Founded in 1988 in part
response to the State Legislature’s criticisms of the University for not taking teaching
seriously and related national criticisms of US research intensive universities. This
program focuses on creating research partnerships between first and second year
students and department based faculty. In 1989 there were 14 such
partnerships/projects and by 2006 this had grown to around 1100 (from a total of
11,000 undergraduate students) working with over 600 faculty in a wide range of
research projects. Key features include:

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Structured and systematic support through the UROP office which
coordinates the programme and supports faculty and, in particular, students
in undertaking the research.
Annual budget of $1 million which, in part, pays for 5 full time staff. These
staff co-ordinate the programme, lead on particular projects and offer drop in
sessions and special events, training and seminars supporting students as
researchers.
Distinguishing features include: started as a programme working with
students at risk and was specifically designed to improve the retention and
academic success of historically unrepresented students. The focus on first
and second year students is also an important feature as is the use of workstudy funds (student financial aid) to enable students with financial need to
focus on research and not do work in cafeterias etc.
Faculty post research projects with potential undergraduate research roles on
UROP and department web sites and students apply on-line.
UROP supports a range of projects both term time and in the summer. They
differ in part over whether students volunteer or receive pay or credit for their
involvement in the research.
There is a strong focus on peer advising. Selected upper level students are
employed to run weekly peer advising sessions to support undergraduate
researchers, including those with community partnerships. This also helps
develop a community of undergraduate researchers. (This was also a feature
of the departmental programme we saw in the Chemistry department – see
below).
There is an annual Undergraduate Research Symposium where over 750
students present posters and some aural presentations.
Some of these programmes and projects focus on what in the UK we would call
“widening participation”. These include projects that support inner city largely Afro–
11
American students from inner city Detroit. While University of Michigan had been
successful in recruiting these students, their drop out rate was high. Special
undergraduate research programmes were targeted at these students in year one
and two to support their integration and academic success (See next section re
impact). There has since developed related projects to support transfer students into
Michigan from community colleges and four-year colleges.
Researching the Impact of UROP - http://141.211.177.75/urop/about/evaluation/
The UROP has been engaged in a longitudinal assessment of the impact of the
program on student retention, academic performance, engagement and pursuit of
graduate and professional education. Conclusions are for very strong impacts on
retention, performance and postgraduate entry. “Students who participate in
undergraduate research (UROP or other research) are significantly more likely to
pursue post-graduate education than control students.” Key variations are noted in
regards to issues of gender and race and some uncertainty as to whether UROP
“facilitates proactive behaviour or strengthens those behaviours already present.”
The Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning - As with
Penn State and Bates aspects of undergraduate research and in particular work in
and with the community grows out of US views on the civic responsibilities of HE,
and in particular here the civic mission of the American research university (Boyte
and Hollander, 1999). It also builds on the extent to which volunteer/service learning
is an important aspect of many high school offerings and indeed requirements for
graduation.
The Ginsberg Center was founded in 1997 and is funded through central university
funds and endowment income. Its mission is to “engage students, faculty and
community members in learning together through community service and civic
participation in a diverse democratic society.” (from web site).
While clearly based in part on US volunteer/service learning traditions the Center has
moved to a more scholarly research based approach with clear links to
undergraduate research. In addition the Center has moved from working in the
community/communities to working and researching in partnership with communities
and at any one time has a range of “long-term” projects developed through
community needs and faculty/student/donor interests. As with the UROP these
projects are then supported by a range of grants, credit frameworks in departments
and student volunteering.
Ginsberg Center staff support this by working with communities to identify and define
initiatives, by working with departments to embed initiatives into programmes and by
publicising placement opportunities to students. Current Projects include:

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America Reads - students supporting reading/literacy.
Americorps - US wide community service organisation.
Project Community (yearly enrollment of about 500, 250 per semester).
Serve - student run group that organises community volunteering, social
action and student civic responsibility.
The Detroit Initiative which provides opportunities for students and faculty to
engage in further education, service and research in the Detroit area through
a focus on community-identified priorities.
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To repeat there has been strong recent moves to work with communities on defining
priorities and, while respecting service traditions, clearly move much of this work to a
scholarly and research based approach (Rhoads and Howard 1998). The Center also
publishes the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning.
Arts of Citizenship Program - Founded in 1998 with core funding from UM research
office and other units and strongly supported by endowment income and grants from
national funding agencies.
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Strongly based in the humanities (cf. much undergraduate research which is
science based),
Until 2005 David Scobey was Director (now at Bates – see above),
Forms partnerships in which University of Michigan faculty and students work
on projects with schools, museums, libraries, arts organizations, theatre
companies, dance troupes, public agencies, and grassroots groups.
Develops courses that combine rigorous study with practical community work.
Provides start-up funding for innovative teaching and creative projects.
Creates a range of long lasting projects with community partners in which
undergraduate students, postgraduates and faculty can become centrally
involved.
With David Scobey’s departure the University/Ginzberg Center has
maintained and developed this internationally recognised programme.
Departmental Initiatives
At Michigan we also spent time discussing with staff, in a wide range of departments
(including Chemistry, English/Humanities, Politics, Sociology, Psychology) how they
had also linked to these institutional programmes and developed their own. In many
cases this meant radically (re)-designing courses that were credit based but which
were also clearly research based and in some cases also community based.
Examples included:
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English/Humanities - working in local school districts to deliver aspects of
the humanities curriculum including creating (digital) scholarly resources to
support that curriculum.
Politics - a course that works with Detroit community partners to promote
voter registration and to research the impact of voter registration on voter
turnout. Another project that researched the politics of restaurant worker
(including immigrant workers) employment and sought to intervene politically
to positively enhance those conditions. http://www.icpj.net/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2006/05/RestrauntWorkersBrochure.pdf
Sociology - An introductory course entitled Project Community has some 500
students per year doing community based work and then reflecting critically
on this experience in the light of the academic/wider literature. Students who
have taken this course can earn credit through an advanced course that
included them acting as mentors, seminar leaders on the introductory course.
Chemistry - In some of the departments, particularly the sciences,
undergraduate research is a significant feature of the formal and the informal
curriculum. For example, of the aprroximately190 chemistry undergraduate
majors around 100 -120 undergraduates enrolled in undergraduate research
projects in term time a year and around 60-80 participating in summer
undergraduate research programmes. Indeed, the highlight of our trip was an
evening meeting (in a local pizza restaurant) where eight year 2-4 chemistry
students told us firmly and with strong evidence of the benefits of them doing
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undergraduate research. In addition one of them ran a session where they
supported each other in preparing for their pedagogic roles in an inquiry
based introductory course taught on the principles of supplemental
instruction. The instructor ate his pizza and only intervened at the end of the
session to reinforce key points.
4.5
Pennsylvania State University
Civic and Community Engagement Minor - focuses on supporting and developing
students as scholars in their disciplines with communities beyond the classroom.
Firmly grounded in the ideals of a US Land Grant University serving the needs of the
community but in a way that places clear emphasis on scholarly/research based
activity. As with Bates College, faculty involved in this programme see it as positively
transforming both teaching and research in their disciplines.
“Through the minor, students consider the applications of the theories
and tools of their major discipline to issues of civic consequence, the
inherent values that shape the ways in which students apply their
education, and the implications of public scholarship for social justice
and civic engagement.” (From institutional web site).
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A cross-institutional program initiated and supported by Jeremy Cohen
Associate Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate
Education (academic specialist in US constitutional history/public affairs).
Minor initiated in 2004-5.
Administered by a program faculty drawn from across the University and with
one full time administrator.
The main courses are in the disciplines and Colleges (Departments); and are
ideally courses already in place or developed in response to this initiative.
In effect, in US parlance this is “double dipping” where students get
recognition in their transcript for work in their major and for specified courses
that count in that major but also count to this minor.
One prescribed “extra” course: Foundations of Civic and Community
Engagement. This cross-institutional course is ideally taken in their first year
and opens up issues of working in a scholarly way with communities. This is
the one course that is an extra deliverable by the University and in effect an
extra cost. (At present taught by committed faculty as an extra load to get the
programme started).
Supporting/Required Courses. To repeat these are courses in the
disciplines/Departments that have been recognised by the Minor’s faculty
group as also being examples of public scholarship: e.g. a summer field
course in geography where students research with a Philadelphia inner city
community issues of concern to that community. To get a minor students
need to do one such “field” based course: a capstone (similar to a dissertation
and required for most programmes) that is community based; and three
courses from their discipline that have been recognised by the Public
Scholarship minor committee as “public scholarship”.
In effect at present students can register for the minor up to the day before
they graduate! (Clearly that’s not the ideal but the programme is just starting).
In addition:
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Selected faculty who take a lead in this program are recognised by the title
“Public Scholar Associates”.
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4.6
Work is beginning to better ensure that this activity is recognised through
promotion and tenure committees. Penn State has a strong focus on
“discovery research” particularly for tenure.
This programme is proving particularly popular with “first generation” students
in the inner city campus in Philadelphia.
This programme has clear philosophical/pedagogic links (and differences)
with the Politics in Action FDTL project at Warwick, Brookes and Coventry:
http://www.politicsinaction.ac.uk/
Tufts University, Boston
Background: a once regional university which over the past twenty years has been
transformed into a significant national research-intensive university with some 4,800
undergraduates, around 1000 postgraduates and 460 faculty.
The focus of our visit was on the community based research/scholarly engagement
with communities developed through Tisch College. This builds on previous
institutional foci/strengths in service learning and community engagement and an
institutional mission re preparing students for lives where they are academically
involved as active citizens.
Tisch College - 1999 founded through an endowment of c $40 million. Tisch College
does not offer courses, rather it works across the university to embed community
based research and the scholarship of engagement. Institutionally at senior level, this
community research focus seen as one way of managing the tensions between
teaching and research. The College has both permanent staff and staff/faculty on
secondment, a University wide faculty committee shapes its policies and the college
promotes and develops a range of curricula interventions with communities in the
Boston area, nationally and internationally. These interventions include:
Faculty Fellows Program
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Receive stipend of £15,000 a year for two years to restructure/reinvent their
courses with a community research focus.
Meet once a month.
Currently 16.
Education for Active Citizenship - Existing/or newly developed courses can be
deemed as meeting this “benchmark” through meeting any 4 of 6 criteria. Approval
sought from University wide committee. Now over 150 courses approved. Students
can choose to see these courses as part of their normal major, or can in effect make
this their major.
Citizenship and Public Service Scholars Program - sophomore, junior and senior
year students accepted into this leadership program focus on community project
work, training, and knowledge development. This selective programme and requires
interview by staff and student committee. The first year program below is a
requirement for entry.
First-Year Education for Active Citizenship Program - The Education for Active
Citizenship is a semester-long course that prepares students to participate in the
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Citizenship and Public Service Scholars as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. This
course a requirement for the Citizenship program.
Civic Engagement Fund - Provides financial and advisory support to individual
students and student groups who engage in active citizenship work.
Summer School Scholars Programme - For selected students to do research
mentored by faculty and 30% of this activity is now community based. Very
competitive – while there is no grade requirement – student applicants have to
submit their transcript. Students receive £3,500 for in effect for 6 weeks work. In
addition faculty member gets $ 1,000 and there is $1,000 to support the research
activity. In 2005, 50 scholarships, of which 50% in science and engineering, were
awarded. Figures that suggest the scheme is proving more problematic to develop in
the Social Sciences and Humanities.
Undergraduate Research Fund - Managed by the Dean of Undergraduate
Education who individually decides on (electronic) applications. This initiative as an
annual fund of $20,000 and funding to individual students is capped at $400 which
can be spent on travel, conference attendance, etc.
Guidance /Publications - Staff in Tisch College run workshops, seminars for faculty
and students and have produced a range of guides to doing scholarly and research
based work with communities (See references).
Impact/Outcomes Study - the impact of these interventions has started with surveys
of students at end of year two and graduation. In addition with Tuft’s Office of
Institutional Research a detailed longitudinal research study is to be conducted on
the activities and attitudes of 60-80 undergraduate students from each of four
successive cohorts, 2007 to 2010. This will examine the link between students’
experiences at Tufts University and the development of their civic and political
attitudes and activities.
International Network/Conference - In 2005 Tufts University hosted an
international conference that brought together 29 university leaders from 23 countries
to forge a consensus on expanding the international civic engagement movement
within higher education. The conference established theTalloires Global Network, a
collective of individuals and institutions committed to promoting the civic roles and
social responsibilities of higher education, and laid the groundwork for developing
research on civic and social engagement. http://www.tufts.edu/talloiresnetwork/
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5.
Other Institutions Strongly Recommended by those Interviews re
Community Based Undergraduate Research
University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana, St Louis Community Project Faculty and students from several campus units collaborate with each other and East
St. Louis neighbourhood groups on highly tangible and visible projects that address
the immediate and long-term needs of some of the city's most distressed
communities see http://www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/
Duke University - Research Civic Learning: Scholarship with a Civic Mission Research service-learning (RSL) is an exciting emerging practice that connects
service-learning with the mission of research universities to create new knowledge. In
the RSL process, students, faculty, and community partners study a question of
shared interest. Research is conducted in the context of a service-learning
experience, where the research components (problem analysis, synthesis, and
conclusions) become an integral part of the service provided to the community.
Students participate in a structured process of critical reflection on the ethical,
intellectual, and civic aspects of their experiences while also producing a tangible
research product for their community partner.
Traditional service-learning programs have been criticized for immersing students in
direct service experiences such as tutoring or working in soup kitchens without
pushing them to analyze and understand, much less to seek to influence, institutional
structures, social attitudes, or public policies. The programme is carefully structured
with undergraduate courses at three academic levels culminating with a capstone
thesis, see http://rslduke.mc.duke.edu/
Princeton University: Community Based Learning Institute – The Community
Based Learning Initiative is the collaborative effort of students, faculty, administration,
and community experts working to provide students with opportunities for community
involvement and hands on research in the classroom. Community-based learning
enriches coursework by encouraging students to apply the knowledge and analytic
tools gained in the classroom to the pressing issues that affect local communities.
Working with faculty members and community leaders, students develop research
projects, collect and analyze data, and share their results and conclusions with the
organizations and agencies that need the information, as well as with their
professors. Not only does the community benefit, but students' understanding of the
subject is also greatly enhanced. The University and the community have much to
teach and much to learn from each other. Princeton students are eager to build
connections between their academic work on campus and the large - and very real world beyond the campus. The CBLI enables Princetonians to make a difference in
the community with their work at the University, see http://www. princeton.edu
/~cbli/main.html
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee - Institutionalising and Crediting Community
Engagement – see http://www.uwm.edu/MilwaukeeIdea/CC/grassrootsreform.pdf
See also http://www. uwm.edu/~gjay/
Campus Compact - Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 1000
college and university presidents — representing some 5 million students —
dedicated to promoting community service, civic engagement and service-learning in
higher education see http://www.compact.org/
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6. References.
Boyer, E L (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate,
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, New Jersey
Boyte H. and Hollander E. (1999) Wingspread Declaration on Renewing the Civic
Mission of the American Research University, Campus Compact and the Michigan
Center for Service Learning. http://www.compact.org/resources/detail.php?id=62
Cohen J. and Lackshman Yapa (2003) A Blue Print for Public Scholarship at Penn
State, Pennsylvania State University.
http://www.publicscholarship.psu.edu/PDFs/blueprint.pdf
Collier K. (1998) “Research Opportunities for Undergraduates”, Studies in Higher
Education, 23 (3), pp 349-356.
Coppola B. (2005) “Undergraduate Research: Bringing in Students as Intellectual
Partners”, Presentation at Oxford Brookes University.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/cetl/ugresearch/coppola_prese
ntation.pdf
Eberly R. A. and Cohen J. (eds) (2006) A Laboratory for Public Scholarship and
Democracy, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Jossey Bass, San Francisco,
105, Spring.
Goodman J. (2006) Undergraduate Research: Intelligent Design for the Evolution of
a Program, Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2. pp 80-83.
Goodman K. and Pascarella E.T. (2006) First-Year Seminars Increase Persistence
and Retention: A Summary of the Evidence from How College Affects Students, Peer
Review, http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-su06/pr-su06_research.cfm, Summer.
Gregerman S. "Improving the Academic Success and Retention of Diverse Students
through Undergraduate Research” Presentation at National Science Foundation on
Exploring the Concept of Undergraduate Research Centers.
http://urc.arizona.edu/gregerman.cfm
Jenkins A. (2006), UK Based Undergraduate Research Programmes, http://www2.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/cetl/ugresearch/
Jenkins A. and Healey M. (2005) Institutional Strategies for Linking Teaching and
Research, Higher Education Academy, York, http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources
.asp?process=full_records.ac.uk/resources.
Katkin W. (2003) The Boyer Commission and Its Impact on Undergraduate
Research, in Kinkead J (ed), Valuing and Supporting Undergraduate Research, New
Directions in Teaching and Learning, No 93, Spring, San Francisco, Jossey Bass pp
19-38.
Koch C. (2005) Excellence in Campus-Community Partnerships in the Arts,
Humanities and Design, Imagining America, University of Michigan
http://www.ia.umich.edu/documents/05.KelloggReport.pdf
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Rhoads R. and Howard J. (1998) Academic Service-Learning: A Pedagogy of Action
and Reflection, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Scobey, D. (in press) Making Use of All Our Faculties: Public Scholarship and the
Future of Campus Compact.
University of Stony Brook (1998), The Boyer Commission on Educating
Undergraduates in the Research University: A Blue Print for America’s Research
Universities, University of Stony Brook http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf
7.
Useful Web-sites and Resources from Institutions Visited
BATES
Bates College http://www.bates.edu/
Mount David Summit: http://www.bates.edu/mt-david-summit.xml, examples of
student work presented at 2005 Summit as special issue of the undergraduate
student journal E-Clectic chttp://abacus.bates.edu/eclectic/vol3iss2/mdsfeature.html
Grants and bursaries for Undergraduate Student Research:
http://www.bates.edu/Research-grants.xml
Harward Center: http://www.bates.edu/harward-center.xml
Harward Center Grants: http://www.bates.edu/x109400.xml
Mellon Learning Associates: http://www.bates.edu/mellon-learning-associatesprogram.xml
BOSTON
http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2004/10-22/urop.html
http://www.bu.edu/bulletins
/und/item04.html
MICHIGAN
Arts of Citizenship http://www.artsofcitizenship.umich.edu/about/
and http://www.artsofcitizenship.umich.edu/
Ginsberg Center http://www.umich.edu/~mserve/
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning http://www.umich.edu/~mjcsl/
http://www.bu.edu/bulletins/und/item04.html
http://www.publicscholarship.psu.edu/civcom/index.htm
MIT
http://web.mit.edu/
http://web.mit.edu/UROP/
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Undergraduate Research Journal
http://www.topgrad.com/mit_undergraduate_research_journ.htm
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/undergraduate_research_opportunities/
PENN STATE
http://www.publicscholarship. psu. edu/civcom/index.htm
TUFTS
Tisch College: http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/?pid=1
Impact /Outcomes Study: http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/?pid=17&c=13
Partnering for Community Impact http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/downloads/
PartneringforCommunityImpact.doc
Partnering with Communities http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/downloads/PartneringWith
Communities.pd
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