Implementation of Undergraduate Research Centers – Sustainability and Scalability

1. Implementation of Undergraduate Research Centers – Sustainability and Scalability Jim Gentile, Dean for the Natural Sciences Hope College, Holland, MI

2. “Nothing, not all the armies of the world, can stop an idea whose time has come” Victor Hugo

3. “The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it” Abbie Hoffman

4. Sustainability

5. Must progress at a normal evolutionary rate to be stable

6. The Only Sustainable Change is One that Becomes Part of the Institutional DNA

7. Key Aspects of Sustainability of Undergraduate Research Centers • Design a project with clear goals relating to student learning through research • Design into the process points where you can step back, determine progress, change when appropriate, and move forward again (formative evaluation) • Secure ownership of all stakeholders • Infiltrate into ongoing processes at each institution or organization (be covert). • Be as clear with the leadership team as to both what goals must be achieved and what processes will be employed to achieve those goals • Affirm the leadership of the effort. This affirmation should focus on the efforts of the leadership team and not necessarily on the efforts of any single individual(s).

8. Sustainability points continued • Take time to play in the “sand box” (non threatening internal approaches to make things even better) • Remember that projects that are people-specific are hard to sustain; projects that are site-specific can, of course, be sustained locally, but may not be models easily transferable • Always remember what problem you are trying to solve as you move forward on the effort • Keep all on-campus advancement and public relations officials informed and involved in the process – publicity and money always help • Remember the PKAL motto “Different pieces that fit” It is unlikely that all partners are the same, and thus the roles and contributions from each will be unique

9. Key Questions for Sustainability • How will you fund students who seek to continue in subsequent years – you WILL increase the student numbers of on-going students and this could effect numbers of first-time older students • Pay of students vs academic credit (both?) • How can UR be integrated into curriculum? • Can you properly adjust faculty work loads in academic year to give teaching credit for mentorship of young URC students? • Must engage large cohort of faculty – so how are faculty rewarded (volunteerism won’t work in the long run) • Must find opportunities for students of diverse pre-college background that are meaningful • Must find ways of brining students of diverse ethnicities and a good gender balance into the program if the future scientific human infrastructure is to be affected by this program.

10. PEW MIDSTATES SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS CONSORTIUM Beloit College * Carthage College * Colorado College * Grinnell College * Hope College * Kalamazoo College * Knox College * Lawrence University * Luther College * Macalester College * St. Olaf College * University of Chicago * Washington University

11. Goals of the Pew Consortium • to promote effective collaboration among faculty at the member institutions; • to improve undergraduate science and mathematics education; • to assist with the research efforts of the faculty at the undergraduate colleges and of the undergraduate students at all of the member institutions.

12. A Successful Sustainable Collaboration • Initiated in 1989 with original award from Pew Foundation (~ $750K) and then a follow-up award from Pew (~$500K) • Continued by commitment of member institutions (~ $10K annually) to support programs and Consortium Office • New Institutions have been added over the years • All partners made equal in management and decision-making processes

13. *Amherst College *Beloit College *Carleton College *The Colorado College *Franklin and Marshall College *Pomona College * Smith College *Trinity University *Washington and Lee University *Whitman College *Williams College *The College of Wooster The Consortium has been a fundamental component of the undergraduate-research landscape for seventeen years

14. Scalability • Keep goals of Centers upfront when presented with the challenge/opportunity to “scale up” the program • Practice “appetite control” when envisioning scalability (don’t get try to eat everything at the buffet) • Know that by “scaling up” it will enhance your program as well as enhance the programs of other groups • Build logical adaptability into the process but always have a single story that can be told • Develop your effort as a model that can be adapted by other institutions or departmednts. Do this with intentionality because as other Centers grow, so does the scale of the overall national effect

15. Scalability continued • Re-envision your Advisory Board…who else can help to facilitate your efforts? • Remember that science is becoming every more interdisciplinary in research and factor that into new directions for your center • Connect with ongoing national efforts (PKAL, CUR, NCUR, NSDL, disciplinary societies, NAS/NRC, etc): partner whenever and wherever you can • Always remember that faculty buy-in is the coin of the realm • Become advocates….pass the 7/11 test that means that when you walk into the local 7/11 (think of that as funder) everyone knows about your work, how effective it has been and continues to be, and how wonderful you are.

16. “In order to succeed you must know what you are doing, like what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing” Will Rogers