Building on
Excellence for
Students and
Faculty
J ULI O RI VE RA
C OUN C I L ON UN DE RGRADUATE RE SE ARC H
CA RT H AGE C OLLE G E
An Introduction
OF SORTS
How did he get here?
B.A.—Journalism and
Theology
M.A.—Higher Education
and Student Affairs
Ph.D.—Geography
Carthage
(both sides now)
CUR
Post-doc--Business
Why am I here?
A BETTER QUESTION THAN IT USUALLY IS
I WILL ANSWER THIS LATER
Plan
A quick evaluation of you
Why undergraduate research matters
Some Challenges
Requests
Let’s Start with
You
WOW!
Why am I impressed by
Loyola?
Characteristics of
Excellence in
Undergraduate Research
(COEUR)
Benchmarks about what
it takes to be excellent at
undergraduate research
Impressed by your explicit
interconnection of
undergraduate research
with other experiential
elements offered—Center
for Experiential Learning
Walk through COEUR
COEUR Characteristic
Loyola is Engaged in
UR is Embedded in
Culture and arises from
mission
• UR aligns well with mission
• “academics in action”
• Broad Participation from across the University
Administrative Support
• Center for Experiential Learning
• Range of Supporting Offices
• Support from Provost’s Office
Dissemination
• 324 Student Presenters at Undergraduate Research
and Engagement Symposium
• Awards Given for Quality
Support for Students
• 175 Supported Student Experiences
• Mentoring Feedback Reports
• Travel Grants (9 came to NCUR last year—thank you)
Assessment
• You have some strong outcomes—almost all report the
value of the experience as important for future
Your students at NCUR (top
25%)
Title
“CUT SHORT THE NIGHT: USE SOME OF IT FOR THE DAY'S BUSINESS”:
AN EXAMINATION OF CULTURAL PROCESSES ON SLEEP PATTERNS IN
IMPERIAL ROME.
Subject
Presenter
History
Juan Basadre
Education
Allison Clark
Biochemistry
Robin David
English
David Hullinger
SYNTHESIS OF A PHOTOSENSITIZER-PEG-FOLATE COMPLEX FOR PDT
Chemistry
Munira Munshi
I WAS JUST JOKING!: HUMOR DECREASES PERCEPTIONS OF SEXISM
INFANT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL
MEASURES
Psychology
Sophia Smith
Psychology
Anthropology
& Archeology
Cydney Stein
Ashley
Wahnschaff
Physics
Dan Zimmerman
CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL DISPARITIES AS RELATING TO INEFFECTIVE
BUDGETARY ALLOCATION AND DISCRIMINATIVE EDUCATION POLICY
BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHOSDUCIN-LIKE PROTEIN-1
(PHLP-1) OF THE MALARIA PARASITE PLASMODIUM REVEALS REDOX
ACTIVITY
HIGH THINGS WERE SPOKEN THERE: THE HISTORY OF THE HEROIC
SONNET
PULLING APART, COMING TOGETHER
A STUDY OF TYPE IA SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES: SIMULATED AND
ACTUAL DATA
So What?
THIS IS ALL GOOD NEWS. . . BUT, SO WHAT?
High Impact Practices
First Year Seminars
and Experiences
Common Intellectual
Experiences
Learning
Communities
Writing Intensive
Courses
Collaborative
Projects
 Undergraduate
Research
 Diversity/Global
Learning
 Community Based
Learning/Service
Learning
 Internships
 Capstone Courses
and Projects
Undergraduate research is
identified as a High Impact
Practice (HIP)
 I do hate clichés
Decades of research in higher
education have revealed that these
practices enhance student
development
Who benefits the most?
First among equals? (later)
High Impact Practices—beyond
trendy and cliché
Deep Learning
Higher Grades
Student Development
 Intellectual Development
 “Authentic Learning”
Habits of the Mind
 Knowledge can be created
and destroyed
Apprenticeship in learning
how to learn
 Transferable knowledge
Big Ideas to Transform
Higher Education
Undergraduate Research as a High Impact
Practice
First Among Equals
Transformation of Students
Student Development and Success
Deepening Student Success Across
Spectrum
1st Generation
Low Income
Underrepresented Groups
Transformation of Students:
Getting them from
simple structures to
complex ones in 4
years
Slow process
No single one of us
can do this task
No single remedy can School of
accomplish
Intellectual
this
Development
Change in my Thinking
All these years in the
intellectual development
camp (still haven’t left)
 Finally joined the
Education and Identity
camp
Cheryl Bailey
Chickering’s Vectors
 Developing Competence (intellectual, physical,
personal)
 Managing Emotions
 Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence
 Developing Mature
Interpersonal relationships
 Establishing Identity
 Developing Purpose
 Developing Integrity
Building the Mentoring
Relationship
The most important relationship for a
student
Good mentoring practice is like good
teaching
Build opportunities for students to be
empowered—as junior colleagues
(because someday. . .
Undergraduate Research
Impact on SLOs
Citation
Method
Bauer and Bennett 2003; Russell et al. 2007
Alumni self reported
Ferrari and Jason 1996, Kardash 2000, Lopatto
2004, 2010 Seymour et al. 2003, Ward et al.
2004, Nnadozie et al. 2001, Hunter et al 2009
Student self reported data (focus
group interviews, Likert-scale
surveys)
Hunter et al 2006, Russell et al. 2007; Hunter et
al 2009
Focus group interviews with faculty
Ishiyama 2002
College survey data
DiBassio 2004, Cox and Androit 2009, Singer et
al 2010
Independent scoring of student
reports
More at https://www.zotero.org/groups/curassessmentbibliography/items
All Well and
Good Julio, but. . .
THE IMPACT IS HIGH, BUT THE RANGE IS
LIMITED
Yes
Limited impact for just a few
Needs to expand beyond our “elite”
students to the pedestrian level
Needs to be woven into the
curriculum.
What would that look like?
What if you build an undergraduate
research curriculum that looked like
this?
Undergraduate Research
First Year Seminars
and Experiences
Common Intellectual
Experiences
Learning
Communities
Writing Intensive
Courses
Collaborative
Projects
 Diversity/Global
Learning
 Community Based
Learning/Service
Learning
 Internships
 Capstone Courses
and Projects
Research-rich curriculum
The prevailing thought is that research is
woven into the curriculum
Expands opportunities for students
Reexamines the idea of faculty load/work
Builds out of work
from NSF and HHMI
grants
Curriculum
You know how hard it is to revise
Think about it
A heartening tale from an English
Department
So Why am I
here?
I’M HERE TO CHALLENGE YOU A BIT
I am asking that
you do more
LET’S START WITH YOUR PROFILE
Example institutions
The College of New Jersey
UNC-Asheville
The College of Wooster
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Bridgewater State College
Loyola University-Chicago--I’d like to add this
(in fact I probably will)
What might this mean?
Sharing your story (urban, private, mission
driven)
CUR Quarterly
CUR Conference
Hosting CUR Events
(host institutions are
often showcases)
 Conference
 Business Meeting
 Institutes
What might more mean?
Be riskier in assessment
Your data is good—no complaints
Assessment is about “what is bothering
us”
What might more mean?
Thinking about undergraduate research
strategically
Building research-rich curriculum
Engage students earlier
More examples—what
does it look like to
create an undergraduate
scholar?
Focusing on students
who benefit the most
CUR is here to Help
To promote and support high quality
undergraduate student-faculty
research and scholarship
To help institutions build and
enhance the infrastructure that
increases undergraduate research
You are an institutional member
CUR Resources
MEETINGS
SERVICES
National Conferences
Consulting Service
National Conference on
Undergraduate Research
Mentor Network
Grant Preview Service
CUR Dialogues
CUR Fellows Awards
Institutes & Workshops
Listservs
Posters on the Hill
Advocacy
PUBLICATIONS
CUR Quarterly
“How To” Series
Specialized Volumes
Myth #1 We have to be like
the Natural Scientists
Myth #2 We have to do this
because it is the latest thing
Myth #3 Our students are not
good enough to do
Undergraduate Research
Myth #4 We don’t have
enough money for this
Myth #5 We don’t have
enough time for this
Myth #5 We don’t have
enough time for this
MYTH #4 WE DON’T
HAVE ENOUGH
MONEY FOR THIS
Myth #6 I like this idea—but I
won’t get enough support or
Reward at THIS institution
Myth #7 Undergraduate
Research adds to the workload