The approach to undergraduate research at Randolph College is scattered.
All majors require a capstone project. Most of those include original works of scholarship (broadly defined) from our students. Some departments count support for those projects in teaching load, others do not. In Psychology we have a two semester senior seminar that is team taught and counts in our teaching load. All of the Psychology students present the results of their work at a statewide research conference. Supervision of honors projects or independent research outside of the senior program is not counted in our teaching load. (I am supervising one of each this semester.) We have a director of summer research. Our program is competitive and pays a stipend to both students and faculty. The Director is paid a little more than a faulty mentor and is typically released from other committee assignments. Responsibility includes coordination of review of submissions and managing the summer program. Recent directors have also been very supportive of student research and off-campus presentations outside of the summer program. We have a college wide presentation of student scholarship in April. The coordinator for that program is not compensated except that the position serves as a committee assignment. We had a grants support person in the College's Development Office. That position was redefined last month to serve other development functions. Our Dean is working to develop a part time position in his office for a person who will help faculty and students develop grant applications. Our Dean announced a new initiative last week that will provide financial support for original student scholarship in the junior or senior year. The money for that program will become available in two years so we have not worked out the details. I understand that individual departments will make decisions about the appropriateness of students' request for funds. As I think about it, we would benefit from having a single individual coordinate all of these threads. Good luck Dennis ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Dennis M. Goff Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology Randolph College (Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1891) Lynchburg VA 24503 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: kmorgan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:59 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Undergraduate Research Directors and Programs at 4-year schools Thanks for the posts so far!:-) Let me be a little more specific, though. I am interested in how, if at all, undergraduate research is managed _at an institutional level_ at 4-year schools. Is there a central office or person/persons who serve as UR director(s)? Such a person generally manages any institutional funds that might be available for such research, may organize any institutional research fairs or events, might manage a system to help match students with faculty, edit in-house undergraduate research journals, etc. Most of the places I know of that have such a person are larger universities with graduate programs, and the UR director is a paid administrator of some kind (might be a faculty member pulled into the position and given a leave for a period of time). Some others are half-time faculty, half-time administrators. But I'm also interested in knowing about how UR is managed "in the trenches," so to speak. So the kinds of information you all have been offering about whether faculty are compensated in any way for carrying research students (in FTE or otherwise). Also, what other support, if any, is available to support UR on your campus? (ex. some folks have said that their institution has summer money available on a competitive basis for faculty and their UR students). I am a long-time member of the Council on Undergraduate Research (I've served as a CUR Councilor for the Psychology Division for about 12 years now), and I know that there is a Division of Undergraduate Research Directors in CUR, but all of the folks in there that I know are at R1 or R2 universities--NOT small 4-year colleges. Hence my questions..... As you might have guessed, I've recently been tapped to be something like a UR director at our institution, but the position is not formalized and uncompensated......I promised my fellow UR committee members that I would see what I could find out about how UR is managed at other comparable institutions. Thanks again in advance, --Kathy Morgan Wheaton College Norton, MA 02766 [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
