Chemical Education Today edited by
Association Report: CUR
Kerry Karukstis
Professional Infrastructure for Supporting the Undergraduate Research Enterprise on Campus
Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA 91711
by Kerry K. Karukstis, Karl D. Sienerth, and Frances Vinal Farnsworth
Supporting the Undergraduate Research Mission Institutional support for undergraduate research can be demonstrated in a number of ways. Clearly, reasonable teaching loads, adequate space for collaborative research, modern facilities, access to library holdings, and financial assistance with travel, equipment maintenance, and matching grant funds are all ways that an institution can visibly support the research enterprise. A growing number of institutions are also recognizing the importance of professional staff to enhance the efforts of faculty to initiate and sustain undergraduate research programs. This administrative infrastructure has varied forms depending upon the needs of the campus. For some institutions, a single person (often a faculty member appointed on a rotating basis) serves as the director of a campus-wide undergraduate research program. At other institutions, the scope of undergraduate research may justify a separate office or center of undergraduate research to promote and facilitate research experiences for undergraduates across campus. Alternatively, institutions might establish a sponsored research office (SRO) with one or more staff members to support the undergraduate research mission by aiding faculty in obtaining and administering grant support for research and other scholarly activities. The SRO may be administered through the office of the provost or dean of faculty, the institution’s development or advancement office, or another administrative unit on campus. In order to assist institutions in promoting undergraduate research, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) recently devoted an issue of the CUR Quarterly (1) to a series of articles that describe a range of models for sponsored research offices and centers of undergraduate research. The core functions of such offices at various stages of institutional development of undergraduate research were also highlighted. Material is also available on the CUR Web site (2) to provide additional examples of using professional staff to further the objectives of collaborative faculty research with undergraduates. Some of the key points are summarized here to aid institutions in establishing or enhancing their undergraduate research enterprise. We also describe two professional resources for personnel serving in these roles. Core Functions of Sponsored Research Offices One of the most important functions of an SRO is to assist faculty at every stage of the grant management process. Staying current with funding announcements and helping faculty to identify funding opportunities is the first step in bringing external funding to campus. A sponsored research officer who knows faculty members and their research interests can more effectively recognize prospective initiatives. An www.JCE.DivCHED.org
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SRO can further serve as a sounding board for an idea, offer to critique proposal drafts, and assist in online proposal submissions. The latter role is especially important in streamlining the process of preparing a proposal; many faculty members hesitate to write proposals simply because of their lack of familiarity with the submission requirements of a given funding agency or their lack of facility with particular procedures for online submission. A professional staff member who develops expertise through frequent proposal submissions can ease the tension of this step and enable faculty to spend more time developing project ideas and plans. Other administrative barriers for faculty that deter proposal preparation are attaining institutional commitments for matching funds, learning current rates of institutional overhead and indirect costs, and securing signatures of approval. Professional staff can handle all of the necessary steps. Once a grant has been awarded to a faculty member, the SRO continues to play a vital role. Maintaining compliance with federal, state, and institutional policies and procedures is a complex process that can be simplified by professional staff familiar with such regulations. In addition to actually conducting a scientific investigation, the researcher must place orders for equipment and supplies, arrange travel to field sites or conferences, hire student personnel, and establish contracts for any necessary technicians or postdoctoral associates. Help in navigating the array of procedures involved in purchasing, accounting, travel, and human resources is a welcomed service offered by many sponsored research offices. Providing stewardship of grants and contracts is also a traditional role of such administrative units. Strategic Role of Directors and Centers of Undergraduate Research The integration of research into the undergraduate curriculum is the prime responsibility of directors of undergraduate research. For this reason, such directors are often incorporated within the structure of the academic affairs office on campus. At other institutions a separate center for undergraduate research is established to underscore the importance of such research to the academic life of the institution. In either case, development of academic programs and the infrastructure to support undergraduate research are vital functions of this office. For example, a director of undergraduate research might strive to build the necessary partnerships on campus that would facilitate research or increase the involvement of non-science fields in collaborative student–faculty research projects. Such an administrator might work with study abroad personnel to identify foreign research mentors for summer and semester opportunities, further broadening the research experience for undergraduates. By
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Association Report: CUR enhancing the visibility of undergraduate research on campus, a director of undergraduate research might effectively lobby for more internal funds for undergraduate research, cultivate administrative support for teaching credit for faculty mentoring research students, and convince financial aid officers to modify student aid programs to enable students to participate as research assistants. The tasks undertaken by a director or center of undergraduate research evolve as the faculty and the institution mature in their research activities. For example, at Occidental College, added responsibilities accorded to the Undergraduate Research Center include “coordinating outreach efforts, facilitating interdisciplinary efforts, disseminating outcomes, documenting the activities that comprise the linkage between research and education, conducting evaluation, and presenting the results in publications and conferences” (3). With such an expanded role, an undergraduate research center can be an effective strategic partner supporting institutional initiatives. Professional Resources for SROs CLASP (Colleges of Liberal Arts Sponsored Programs) is an email listserv for liberal arts college employees whose responsibilities include aiding faculty in the search for and management of external funding support (4). The CLASP list was started in 1996 by a few people whose job descriptions focused primarily on sponsored research and faculty grants; over the years it has grown—mostly by word of mouth. At present the list has 110 subscribers representing 73 institutions. CLASP subscribers are responsible for some or all of “sponsored research” management activities at their institutions and are housed in variously named offices depending on the administrative structure of their institutions (development, foundation and corporate relations, provost, dean of faculty, controller or treasurer, or some other administrative or academic unit). CLASP is primarily focused on issues relative to small liberal arts institutions, although these issues may also be faced by research universities. The CLASP listserv provides a forum where questions about sponsored research at liberal arts colleges may be asked and answered almost instantaneously. There is an annual meeting of CLASP subscribers hosted by one of the institutions represented on the list. Professional Organizations for Undergraduate Research Directors In early December 2004, research program directors from 13 institutions met at Winthrop University to discuss and share the various resources and components that make possible wellfounded campus-wide undergraduate research programs. Mary Crowe (Xavier University of Louisiana) and Dwight Dimaculangan (Winthrop University) organized the meeting, which was funded by a grant from Project Kaleidoscope.
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Outcomes of that meeting will be disseminated by the group at the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research to be held in April 2005 in Lexington, VA. Perhaps the most significant result of the December meeting was the realization by the group that there is a clear need for an environment within which directors of undergraduate research centers and programs can discuss and exchange ideas, protocols, and tools of the trade. This environment must be nonexclusive, encouraging membership and active participation by undergraduate research directors at all institutions, regardless of Carnegie classification. Within such a collaborative atmosphere, developmental plans, assessment tools, types of celebration experiences, mission statements, goals, organizational structures, and budgeting practices can be shared and discussed to prevent the need for each institution to “reinvent the wheel”. The Network of Directors of Undergraduate Research Experiences (NDURE) was founded to provide that forum. A listserv, hosted by Weber State University, has been established; Elon University has agreed to host the Web site (5). Literature Cited 1. Numerous articles on institutional support for sponsored research appear in the September 2004 issue of the Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, Volume 25, Number 1, pp. 10–27. 2. Council on Undergraduate Research Publications—Quick Links: Sponsored Programs. http://www.cur.org/Publications/ sponreswebsite.asp (accessed Mar 2005). 3. Mazzeo, A.; Morris, J.; Craney, C. Institutional Support for the Combined Sponsored Research Office and Undergraduate Research Center at Occidental College. http://www.cur.org/ Publications/sponreswebsite.asp (accessed Mar 2005). 4. To join the CLASP listserv, hosted by Middlebury College, send an email to:
[email protected] with the text: “subscribe clasp”. For more information about CLASP contact Franci Farnsworth, Coordinator of Sponsored Research at Middlebury College;
[email protected]. 5. The NDURE listserv was founded by and is being maintained by Weber State University. Elon University is the host of the Web site at http://www.ndure.org (accessed Mar 2005). To join the email list, follow the directions from the NDURE Web site, or send an email message to
[email protected] with a blank subject line and a one-line message “subscribe NDURE your full name”.
Kerry K. Karukstis is a member of the Department of Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711;
[email protected]. Karl D. Sienerth is in the Department of Chemistry, Elon University, Elon, NC 27244;
[email protected]. Frances Vinal Farmsworth is Coordinator of Sponsored Research, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753;
[email protected].
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