Hi, here is a summary of a short survey I sent a few weeks ago. A big thank
you to all 56 respondents!!
Overall, most B.S. granting programs provide some sort of compensation (see
figures below), typically in the form of course release/credit, but also
stipends.
Course release/credit- The ways in which this was calculated was extremely
variable and creative!!! some examples:
-Some faculty can 'bank' students and after mentoring a specific number receive
a 1 course release
-For others, mentoring multiple undergrads (3-12!) translates into 1 hour of
teaching load credit
-At some institutions with small departments, students are engaged in a two
semester process, 1st semester is in a classroom experience and 1 faculty
receives teaching credit, following semester student conduct research and
teaching credit is either rotated through involved faculty or given to faculty
with the most number of student researchers.
Stipends-again highly variable. Some examples:
-overload pay
-$75/cr hrs of student research
-$125 per honor project
-no compensation during fall/spring. $1000 during summer
-Independent study $100 per cr. per student....Honor's projects $400
One particular respondent provided an interesting solution.
For P&T considerations: In addition to administration counting student
mentoring as 'teaching or engagement', which is how most school admin. view
undergrad research, getting those admins. to count any products (other than an
obvious publication), such as a conference presentation or a poster by our
students, toward 'Scholarship'
Anyway here is a summary of the data. I hope you find it useful
56 respondents (22 states):
Highest degree offered in department:
B.S. = 38 (68%)
M.S. = 9 (16%)
PhD = 9 (16%)
Remaining info based on B.S. programs
Is research Experience Required or Elective?
50/50
Number of semester of research experience?
mostly 1 or 2 semesters, with several school (24% offering variable
opportunities of more than 2 semesters)
How many cr. hrs. can students earn?
Highly variable range was 1-8 cr. hrs
What is your full time teaching load (# of hours in the classroom per week)?
Mean 12.8 + 3.6 contact hrs/sem, Median and Mode = 12
Are faculty compensated? if so how?
[X][X]
Riccardo Fiorillo, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology
School of Science and Technology
Georgia Gwinnett College
1000 University Center Lane
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
Office: A1115
Cell: 770-853-5744
[email protected]
