Newswise — Washington, DC- Dr. Julio Rivera, Provost of Carthage College, has been elected to serve as the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) President-elect for the 2012-2013 year. CUR, with its over 650 institutional members and nearly 8000 individual members, supports faculty development for high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. Elizabeth Ambos, Executive Officer for CUR expressed her admiration for Dr. Rivera, and lauded the CUR members’ choice for President-Elect. “Dr. Rivera is not only an outstanding teacher-scholar administrator, he is a person of great integrity, vision, and steadfast and creative leadership with respect to undergraduate research.”
“I am excited about being elected. I have served in a variety of roles in CUR over the years and I anticipate this will be a most exciting and rewarding experience” stated Julio. Having been an engaged CUR member for more than a decade, Julio has severed as councilor and institute facilitator. He has also played an integral role in CUR’s NSF funded Workshop Program on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research for State Systems and Consortia. His expertise has afforded the participants of the workshops a wealth of information regarding the benefits of undergraduate research programs, how to promote undergraduate research while on campus and understanding tenure and promotion issues in conjunction.
When asked about his outlook regarding his new position Julio said “my hope is to foster the continued growth of CUR programming that expands undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative opportunities across all disciplines and all types of higher education institutions. Most importantly, I hope to encourage programs that seek to embed research experiences into the undergraduate curriculum. These offer the greatest opportunity to prepare and encourage students to engage in research, scholarship, and creative activities that will prepare them for both graduate work and their professional lives.”
This month, at the close of the 2012 CUR Conference, Dr. Rivera will begin his one year term as CUR President-elect, which will be followed by a year as President and a year as Past-President.
##Council on Undergraduate Research: The Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org) supports faculty development for high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. Over 650 institutions and nearly 8000 individuals belong to CUR. CUR believes that the best way to capture student interest and create enthusiasm for a discipline is through research in close collaboration with faculty members.
Julio Rivera is Provost and Professor of Geography at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He has been a continual advocate for the advancement of undergraduate research in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts. Before becoming Provost in 2010 he taught courses in geographic information science (GIS); satellite image interpretation; urban, economic, and cultural geography and directed the Carthage Geographic Information Systems Laboratory. His research with students focused on the development of suburban communities and how the design of the built environment enhances or impedes community life. During his sabbatical, he worked at the Global Institute for Sustainability at Arizona State University examining trends in the development of the urban fringe in the Phoenix metropolitan area. He regularly brought students to Ometepe Island, Nicaragua as part of a service-learning course in the Geography and Biology of Nicaragua. Julio has directed over 100 undergraduate student senior thesis projects, many of which were presented at regional and national conferences. He continues to serve as a consultant to both government and business including Snap-on Tools, Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Racine Harbor Commission, and the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation. Rivera is the author of a number of papers and is a member of the Association of American Geographers, National Council on Geographic Education, and the American Conference of Academic Deans and is active in the Council on Undergraduate Research. He is the recipient of the 2002 Carthage College Distinguished Teaching Award. Rivera earned his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his B.A. in Journalism and Theology at Marquette University, and M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs at The Ohio State University.
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