Developing Undergraduate Research at Community Colleges:
Tapping the Potential of All Students

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) in collaboration with the National Council of Institutional Administrators (NCIA) has recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (NSF-CCLI) program to build a foundation of knowledge and the resources upon which a vision of undergraduate research at community colleges can be constructed by providing workshops for community colleges considering or just beginning undergraduate research programs, employing expert presenters to help participants plan changes at their institutions and address implementation issues.

The campus workshops are the cornerstones of this grant. The workshops will be designed to assist community colleges to develop effective and sustainable undergraduate research programs. The workshop curriculum will be developed to take into account the specific needs and characteristics of community colleges such as a mission that emphasizes teaching over research, five course teaching loads, commuter students who may have full-time jobs and families, and the career preparation and transfer needs of students. Integration of undergraduate research experiences into the curriculum is a powerful way to introduce community college students to undergraduate research and will be a major component of the workshop curriculum. Articulation and funding will also be workshop topics. In addition, specific aspects will be incorporated into the workshop curriculum to account for the unique circumstances of community colleges in regional, suburban, and urban locales.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Nancy Hensel at nancy@cur.org or 202-783-4810x201. We are coordinating with the National Council of Instructional Administrators on this project. Brent Cejda is the Principal Investigator of the grant, and Diane Gronewold is the project coordinator. Should you have questions, please contact her at dgronewold1@unl.edu.

A Model for the Implementation and Engagement of Independent Research by Community College Students

Harper College Institutional Review Board

NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education: Opportunities for Community Colleges (PowerPoint)

Undergraduate Research Program at a Community College

Participants of the workshops and other interested individuals are invited to join a list-serve dedicated to the discussion of undergraduate research at community colleges.

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