Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR)

1. Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR) COEUR Co-authors Roger Rowlett, Gordon & Dorothy Kline Professor of Chemistry, Colgate College Linda Blockus, Director of Undergraduate Research, University of Missouri Susan Larson, Professor of Psychology, Director of Undergraduate Research, Concordia College Download: http://www.cur.org/publications/publication_listings/COEUR/

2. Outline of session • A bit about CUR and undergraduate research • Purpose and motivation for COEUR • Overview of COEUR • Executive summary of the major topics addressed in COEUR • Uses for COEUR • Opportunity for discussion and conversation

3. Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org) • Founded in 1978, is a national organization of individual and institutional members representing more than 900 colleges and universities. • Mission of CUR: To support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.

4. CUR activities • Biennial conference & specialized institutes for faculty and administrators, including Undergraduate Research Program Directors • CUR Dialogues (brings faculty/admin. to DC to interact with funders) • Publications and quarterly journal • Advocacy with funding agencies & government • Consulting and Program Review • Now responsible for student-centered annual NCUR meeting

5. Defining Undergraduate Research • CUR Definition: An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.

6. Benefits of undergraduate research • Enhances student learning through mentoring relationships with faculty • Increases retention • Increases enrollment in graduate education and provides effective career preparation • Develops critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and intellectual independence • Develops an understanding of research methodology • Promotes an innovation-oriented culture http://www.cur.org/about_cur/fact_sheet/

7. AAC&U 2013: THE QUALITY OF U.S. DEGREES: Innovations, Efficiencies, and Disruptions—To What Ends? • Explore a wide range of approaches to quality learning • Address important efforts to increase completion rates and access to higher education, alongside comprehensive efforts to ensure the integrity of college degrees • Make sure that all degrees offer students pathways along which they will creatively engage complex, real-world challenges   • Ensure that these experiences produce assessable evidence of authentic student work and achievement http://www.aacu.org/meetings/annualmeeting/AM13/index.cfm

8. What is COEUR? • COEUR is a summary of best practices that support and sustain highly effective undergraduate research environments • The purpose of COEUR is to provide a guide for those who wish to build, evaluate, and maintain robust, productive, meaningful and sustainable undergraduate research programs • COEUR is for institutions, programs, academic departments, faculty and administrators as they work to develop and enhance their undergraduate research programs

9. Campus mission and culture • A campus culture that values and rewards undergraduate research (UR) is essential. • Institutional commitment to UR • Scholarly faculty and faculty commitment to UR • Broad disciplinary participation by students • Accessible opportunities • Integration with other engaging & high impact opportunities

10. Administrative support • Administrative support and commitment are critical for excellent UR programs. • Intramural budgetary support and, if appropriate, startup funding • Faculty load credit for supervising undergraduate research and for research-related tasks • Student support, including for travel • Research grants office

11. Administrative support: Office of Undergraduate Research • Most successful UR programs have a central office, which oversees campus-wide UR activities • Director of Undergraduate Research • Full- or part-time • Sufficient, well-located space • Infrastructure support, such as support staff, an office and publicity budget

12. Research infrastructure • To sustain productive research and scholarship with undergraduates, research infrastructure is needed. • Space, instrumentation and equipment • Library and computational resources • Research oversight structures • Support, administrative and technical staff

13. Professional development opportunities • Professional development should be available for all those involved in UR. • Research leaves • Mentor training for faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows • Other professional development opportunities, for all involved in UR

14. Recognition • An institution that values UR as an activity integral to its mission will provide clear, tangible forms of recognition for faculty and students. • Acknowledgement of undergraduate research in promotion and tenure guidelines, salary review and campus awards • Prominent publicity for research accomplishments

15. External funding • External funding is essential for the development of a rich, productive, and contemporaneous faculty-student research environment. • Faculty should seek and be supported for seeking external research funding • Institutional research funding should also be available

16. Dissemination of Research • Faculty and students should strive for peer-reviewed dissemination in the form of publications, exhibition or performances. • Other desirable forms of dissemination include • Presentation at professional meetings • Student research conferences • On-campus symposia

17. Student-centered issues • UR experiences should incorporate best practices in undergraduate education and UR programs should strive to integrate student research with other engaging experiences, such as • Capstone and Writing experiences • Study Abroad, Global Learning • Service Learning, Citizenship • Leadership, Student Development • Orientation and First Year Experiences • Peer Communities and Peer Learning

18. Student-centered issues • Other student-centered issues • Creating a community scholars, possibly with peer mentoring/teamwork • Programming to promote professional development • Providing opportunities for early and sustained involvement in UR • Establishing and communicating expectations • Providing developmentally appropriate expectations • Faculty mentor availability

19. Curriculum • Departments and programs should design curricula that expose students to skills necessary to undertake UR and curricula should be designed in ways to facilitate faculty and student involvement in UR. • Research-supportive curriculum • Integration of teaching and research • Attention to faculty load management • Training opportunities and workshops • E.g., Responsible Conduct of Research • Student course credit for research

20. Summer research program • A robust summer research program is essential to a vibrant UR environment, and includes • Faculty and student compensation • Student access to facilities and student services, including housing • Programming, including research symposia • Coordination between multiple programs and attention to issues for hosting students

21. Assessment activities • Institutions and programs should have multiple approaches to assessment to recognize successes, illuminate gaps, and collect benchmarking data. • Assessment of student learning outcomes • Program assessment and evaluation • Collection of participation/outcome data

22. Assessment activities • Program assessment and evaluation should include • Feedback from faculty and students on their satisfaction with activities • Sustainable method to collect data on participants (e.g., demographic information) and faculty mentors (e.g., outcomes) • Mechanism to track external funding and post-graduate career plans of students

23. Strategic planning • Institutions that aspire to creating and sustaining an excellent undergraduate research environment will have thoughtful and clearly articulated benchmarks and strategic plans.

24. Excellence in UR • These 12 characteristics (and their many sub-characteristics ) work together to create excellent UR programs • "...a successful undergraduate research program must be embedded in the culture of an institution and thereby supported through multiple organizational structures, policies, and programs. By using COEUR to guide efforts aimed at achieving this goal, an institution is much more likely to achieve this desired result.“ • Andrea Chapdelaine, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Albright College

25. Faculty support • Adequate startup funding • Professional development leave opportunities and travel support • Research grants office • Recognition of undergraduate research in promotion & tenure guidelines • Creating time for faculty

26. Creating time for faculty • Faculty load credit for supervising undergraduate research • Research-supportive curriculum & scheduling • Integration of teaching & research • Technical support staff • Reassigned time for research related-tasks • Undergraduate Research Office/Coordinator

27. Undergraduate research office • Full or part-time coordinator • Interfaces with other campus constituents • Promotes UR to internal and external audiences • Oversees assessment activities • Distributes research funding to students • Coordinates campus-wide research symposium • Can seek grants, implement strategic planning around UR

28. Summer research program • Research-supportive teaching calendar • Student and/or faculty compensation • Affordable student housing/services • Student programming • Student peer community • Summer research symposia • Faculty mentoring as professional development

29. Discussion • Will use this a time to learn how others are moving towards excellence in UR • The successes you have had at your institution in achieving these characteristics • The challenges you have had • What are some things characteristics of excellence COEUR that particularly resonate with you/your campus?

30. Uses of COEUR • Purpose of COEUR • To provide a guide for those who wish to build, evaluate, and maintain robust, productive, meaningful and sustainable undergraduate research environments • Serve as a guide to sustain best practices in undergraduate research • Many examples of uses of COEUR in the CUR publication

31. Uses of COEUR • Function as a guide for strategic planning • Provide programmatic and institutional benchmarking against national standards • CUR in process of developing a system for institutional reviews making use of COEUR

32. Uses of COEUR • Outline a structure for UR self-study • Utilized in assessment and evaluation of UR • Provide guidance for resource allocation decisions • Encourage the development of new initiatives related to UR • Provide a framework for campus discussion and setting priorities

33. Examples of how COEUR is being used • General discussion about the document to improve the undergraduate research experience • Used for integrating undergraduate research in the curriculum • Used to address faculty professional development needs • Used to develop a mission statement or strategic plan around undergraduate research • Used for improving faculty research productivity/support • Used in conversations within departments about workload, evaluation and rewards

34. Discussion and Questions • How can you use the COEUR document/ framework to improve UR on your campus? • How can it be used at different levels in your institution (e.g., by deans or other administrators, faculty, communications, marketing, advancement)?

35. COEUR on-line Download or purchase a hardcopy, find executive summary here, too: http://www.cur.org/publications/publication_listings/COEUR/

36. CUR at AAC&U • CUR Session - Developing a Shared Vision to Expand, Sustain, and Connect Undergraduate Research Culture and Practice. Friday @ 4:15pm, Grand Hall East C • CUR Reception – Friday (5:30-7:00 pm) in the Hanover C Room

37. Upcoming WebinarFaculty Support and Undergraduate Research: Innovation in Faculty Role Definition, Workload, and Reward Please join Nancy Hensel and Elizabeth Paul as they discuss the issues covered in their new publication When:Wednesday, February 6th 2-3pm et Register here: http://www.cvent.com/d/ycq44r/4W Pricing: Enhanced – Complimentary (free to first 50, $20 after) Institutional Members -- $30 Individual Members -- $50 Non-Members -- $75