Newswise — Washington, D.C.- At the end of 2014 the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) completed its ground-breaking work on an National Science Foundation- Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (NSF CCLI III- Systems and Consortia) Grant (NSF DUE 09-20275). To build on the success of the grant and more broadly share the significant lessons learned from the workshops with other leaders in the higher education community, grant Principal Investigators Mitch Malachowski, Elizabeth Ambos, Jeff Osborn, and Kerry Karukstis, submitted and were selected to compose a special theme issue in a periodical of the Wiley brand called New Directions for Higher Education.
CUR was awarded a $999,500 grant from the NSF in 2009 to improve the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at state college and university systems and private and public consortia. City University of New York, Great Lakes Colleges Association, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, California State University System and University of Wisconsin State System successfully worked to expand and enhance undergraduate research activities on 80 campuses.
The Spring 2015 issue consists of eight chapters written by the PIs, as well as diverse practitioners and researchers who describe their journeys to harness the power of the collectives to foster the institutionalization of undergraduate research, and deepen understanding of how large-scale change can be fostered in complex higher-education systems and consortia. Their experiences highlight many of the issues that others need to consider as they move toward comprehensive institution-wide teacher–scholar and student-as-scholar models. ##
Council on Undergraduate Research: The Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org) supports faculty and student development for high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research, scholarship, and creative activities. More than 700 institutions and over 10,000 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.
Editors/Lead Authors: Mitchell Malachowski is a professor of chemistry at the University of San Diego and a coordinator of CUR's Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Program.Jeffrey M. Osborn is the dean of the School of Science and professor of biology at The College of New Jersey, and a coordinator of CUR's Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Program.Kerry K. Karukstis is the Ray and Mary Ingwersen Professor and chair of chemistry at Harvey Mudd College, and a coordinator of CUR's Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Program.Elizabeth L. Ambos is the executive officer of the Council on Undergraduate Research.
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