- Posted in All University
- Category: Campus News
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – More than 48 faculty members from nine universities gathered on Lincoln University’s campus November 10-12 to develop transformative opportunities for undergraduate research, scholarship, and creativity at the Creative Inquiry in the Arts and Humanities Institute.
“Lincoln was honored to host this significant event sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research,” said Brenda A. Allen, president of Lincoln University, who greeted the visitors Friday afternoon.
“Undergraduate research is fundamental to a strong liberal arts curriculum, and by hosting this Institute, Lincoln took another step forward in creating student undergraduate research opportunities, which will give our students the tools they need to be successful after college in areas such as critical and creative thinking, written and oral communication, intellectual curiosity, and analysis.”
“Hosting the Institute was a significant step for Lincoln’s new Center for Undergraduate Research,” said Vanessa McRae. “Our Center’s mission aligns with the Council on Undergraduate Research’s mission to support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.
The Center for Undergraduate Research aims to create an innovative approach to multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary undergraduate research.
“We wanted to host this Institute to because it provided an opportunity for faculty in the arts and humanities fields to come together and share thoughts and ideas on how to increase undergraduate research and creative inquiry opportunities in an area that is sometimes underrepresented,” McRae said.
During the course of three days, teams of three to five faculty members worked to define a mission and overall action plan for undergraduate research, scholarship and creativity in the arts and humanities tailored to their campus. The teams brainstormed sources and strategies for obtaining funding, defined arts-and-humanities-friendly assessment mechanisms, and addressed workload and tenure & promotion issues for faculty.
“Our goal was to ensure that teams returned to their campus with an action plan to create a customized plan that enhances undergraduate research in the arts and humanities,” McRae said.
The plans typically include curricula changes, summer “research” programs, campus symposia, national conferences, and scholarly publications and showcases.
McRae said undergraduate research has wide ranging benefits for students such as improving retention, especially for students most at-risk academically.