Less than a month old, the Urbana campus’s Office of Undergraduate Research doesn’t even have an actual office.
But campus leaders have big plans for it nonetheless.
Created by the Office of the Provost, the new office is expected to become the nexus for the expansion of undergraduate research activities.
Though several effective undergraduate research efforts already exist on campus, Vice Provost Barbara Wilson said the new office is being designed as a clearinghouse for campus undergraduate research activities, providing students a common access point and professors a blueprint from which to foster new collaborations.
“Our annual survey of seniors tells us that part of the problem is that many students are unaware that they could have gotten involved in faculty-led research during their time here,” she said.
To solve that problem, the office will publicize opportunities on campus, bringing together undergraduates interested in research and professors seeking more engaging ways to teach students.
Starting initially with a modest budget, the office is designed to promote greater research opportunities, identify successful models that can be duplicated in other units, offer awards, expand student field research opportunities, integrate undergraduate research into the curriculum and even offer travel subsidies for students to present their research at national conferences.
In the short term, the office will serve as a conduit to assist departments in structuring courses and activities around research.
“The proportion of students involved in research is highest in the lab-based sciences and engineering,” Wilson said, “but we know that there are ways students can get involved in research in many other fields and disciplines.”
Paul Diehl, the Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science, who for 10 years headed the Teaching Academy in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been tapped to form the office, which includes the search for a half-time coordinator.
“We want to do more,” he said. “This is one of the world’s great research universities and there are exciting things going on. We have the opportunity to give students some amazing types of experiences.”
Diehl is gathering data on existing undergraduate research programs and is meeting with faculty and administrative leaders to discuss how to enhance those programs.
“Right now it’s done by either individual instructors or departments on largely an ad hoc basis,” he said, “but we need the faculty commitment to expand these activities. I think the student demand is there. We need (professors) to share good ideas and new approaches. The university is certainly committed to it.”
Diehl said adopting such an approach more generally across campus would represent a growing shift away from a lecture format and toward new forms of active learning.
But, he added, a wider institutional change demands new approaches, pedagogies and discussion of best practices.
“We’re talking about undergraduates who are identifying research topics, conducting original research and presenting findings, as opposed to sitting and listening to lectures and taking multiple choice tests,” he said. “Those are the kinds of skills we are hoping to develop and nurture for more students here at the U. of I.”
Offering such courses widely also would be one more tool for continuing to recruit the best and brightest students in the world.
“There are a lot of untapped opportunities and it’s something other institutions are already doing,” he said. “It’s the next logical step and it’s something we’ve got to address if we want to continue to ensure that going to the U. of I. a special experience.”
Diehl also is developing a strategic plan, which is being tailored to feedback he is collecting as he meets with campus stakeholders and gathers new information. He said several new initiatives will be announced in the coming months.
“It’s what I call a work in progress. I’ve updated it every week, so it’s more of a working document,” he said. “We’re going to be gathering lots of information. We want to find out everything that’s out there. We also plan to keep and expand the signature Undergraduate Research Symposium, a spring semester event in which hundreds of students present their original research conducted over the academic year.”
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