CUR 2002 Workshop Report
 
"Organizing a Campus-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium"

Friday, June 21
9:45am-10:30am (17 people attended)
10:45am-11:30am (21 people attended)

Moderator and Reporter: James LaPlant, Political Science Department, Valdosta State University, 
                                            Valdosta, GA (jlaplant@valdosta.edu)

Panelists:    Andrew Leavitt, Department of Chemistry, State University of West Georgia, 
                             Carrollton, GA (aleavitt@westga.edu)
                   Kevin Riggs, Department of Physics, Stetson University, 
                             Deland, FL (kriggs@stetson.edu) 

      Professor Riggs described the campus-wide Undergraduate Scholarship and Performance Day at Stetson University ( www.stetson.edu/programs/usapd ). The first symposium was held in 1999. The symposium is scheduled in the first week of April. Awards are given for the best paper and poster. Students with posters must be available to give a talk to the judging panel. A keynote speaker is featured at lunch and an awards ceremony is held in the evening. Every student at Stetson University is required to do a senior research project which provides a pool of potential presenters. Furthermore, every student participating in the Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) must participate in the symposium. SURE is a summer internship program. Stetson has a cultural credit requirement and credit is given to students who attend the symposium. 
 
      Professor Leavitt described the strong tradition of undergraduate research in many disciplines at the State University of West Georgia. For the past five years, a celebration of scholarship has been held on the campus. The event is called "Big Night: An Evening of Student Scholarship." The event is held in April. The university is divided into six areas (humanities, education, business, social sciences, sciences, and art). Area coordinators judge the competition in each area and a finalist is selected. The six finalists give 6-12 minute presentations during "Big Night." The presentations must be prepared for a general audience. A student serves as the master of ceremony. Each of the student presenters receives a bronze sculpture reflecting their area/discipline. The bronze sculptures are crafted by fine arts students at the university. A poster session is held afterwards with students across all disciplines. Support for the event is provided from the vice president's office and donors.
 
      A general discussion followed with the audience. In reference to the topic of building support with the administration, it was suggested that the president could be invited to speak at the plenary session. Brochures and other literature for the symposium could provide pictures and statements from the president, provost and deans. A campus-wide council on undergraduate research can help to coordinate support with the administration. In relation to strategies for encouraging student participation, a faculty committee can play a critical role. Students can be recruited from the Honors College, Women's Studies, African American Studies and International Programs. It is also important to convince the humanities, business and fine arts that participation in the symposium is important and valuable to students. The symposium should be built into the curriculum. Several ideas were discussed for encouraging student attendance at the event. Honors students could be invited to the symposium from area high schools. Classes could be canceled during the symposium. In relation to the timing of the symposium, the audience discussion revealed that most are held during April. In many cases they are linked to a scholarship day. They are often held on a Wednesday and Thursday.
 
      The panel session concluded with an analysis of problems encountered. Student attendance and faculty awareness are key problems. Faculty participation can be the biggest challenge. Undergraduate research symposia are dependent upon the "true believers" among faculty. How to bring in the humanities is another challenge. Students often read their papers at the symposium so attention must be given to presentation style. Business students often participate in group presentations and accommodations must be made for such presentations. The merits of electronic abstracts versus paper abstracts were discussed. Audience members noted the importance of assessment. There is a need to show this type of program makes a difference which might help to increase faculty participation and the subsequent level of student involvement. It was also suggested that faculty mentoring of undergraduate research should be part of a university's promotion and tenure guidelines.