Contents

Notes from the Collaborative

A Note from the Collaborative Director

Defining Collaboration: Collaborative Undergraduate Research Across the Disciplines

Collaborative Opportunities

Research and Academic Travel Funding Opportunities

Academic Travel Award Recipients

Celebrating Student and Faculty/Staff Collaborations

Student Profiles

Important Dates

Mar. 25, 2011 Collaborative Summer-Fall Grant applications due

Mar. 31 - Apr. 2, 2011 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)

Apr. 18, 2011 Collaborative Continuation Grant applications due

May 2, 2011 Student Academic Travel Grant and Attendee Grant applications due

Defining Collaboration: Collaborative Undergraduate Research Across the Disciplines

Four scholars explain what collaborative undergraduate research entails in their academic disciplines.

The Humanities

Undergraduate research in the humanities and fine arts allows students to conduct in-depth research that develops their scholarly voice and ability to think critically from one or more disciplinary perspectives.  Students work individually with a faculty member who helps them identify and navigate useful scholarship on their topic, apply research methods appropriate to the field, and guides their exploration into a particular topic.  As students focus their research, they learn to synthesize existing theory and scholarship with their own ideas to produce innovative, original scholarship that contributes to the body of knowledge within their field of inquiry.

- Brad Ellis, Assistant Professor of Spanish at St. Norbert College

The Natural Sciences

The undergraduate research experience in the natural sciences incorporates students in meaningful ways into a  professor's ongoing research projects or areas of specialization. These student-faculty mentor teams are engaged in original research with the goal of developing new knowledge while integrating and reinforcing a student's current knowledge from formal course and/or lab work. This apprenticeship allows students to participate in the process of science in a meaningful and personal way as they experience the joy of discovering something new about the physical world.  These opportunities often help students clarify the right career path for them to pursue and improve their written and oral communication skills. For faculty members who give their time and energies to this process, the ideal student researcher will add data to the overall project advancing the professor's research agenda while also informing the professor's approach to teaching.

- Kari Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at St. Norbert College, and David Hunnicutt, Assistant Professor of Biology at St. Norbert College
 

The Social Sciences

The social sciences division at St. Norbert College is proud of the many creative ways we meet the needs of students' intellectual, spiritual, and personal growth. One of the ways the faculty in the division strives to connect with the students is through undergraduate research opportunities. Using multiple projects throughout our various departments, students are using critical thinking, research, and analysis to create new learning and applications.

Research is a hallmark of the social sciences and the experiences that we facilitate with our students are designed to build and maintain positive social change, deeper understandings, and foster collaborative networks. By embedding authentic research opportunities with the undergraduate students, the social sciences division hopes to kindle the type of research passion that is that is the core for an effective scholar. This type of research provides our community with a connection to learning and research that cannot be created only through individual efforts.

The social sciences division looks forward to continuously working in undergraduate research opportunities with our St. Norbert College students. We are passionately pursuing collaborative research and learning opportunities for all.

- Scott Kirst, Assistant Professor of Education at St. Norbert College