Conference on 'Undergraduate Research and Scholarship and the Mission of the Research University' November 14-15, 2002

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

Interdisciplinary (99) This project is supporting a two-day national conference on "Undergraduate Research and Scholarship and the Mission of the Research University" at the Reinvention Center at SUNY Stony Brook. The conference, which will take place on November 14-15, 2002, will bring together university faculty, administrators, and students, as well as representatives of disciplinary associations, government agencies, and private foundations, to focus on fundamental, institutional, cultural, and academic issues that are inherent to research universities. Such issues must be addressed if research universities are going to maximize their potential and bring research, scholarship, and creative activity to the forefront of the undergraduate education they offer, as envisioned in the Boyer Commission report, "Educating Undergraduates in the Research University." Underlying the conference focus is the broader goal for research universities: (1) to define and articulate a vision of undergraduate education that builds upon and is synergistic with their research mission, and (2) to develop reasonable expectations for implementing this vision so that it impacts significant numbers of students. Understanding the role of undergraduate research and mechanisms for realizing broader participation is a first step toward this goal. In their efforts to infuse research into the undergraduate education, those in leadership roles in research universities confront the same panoply of issues and challenges that surround their larger efforts at reinvention. Thus the conference focus on undergraduate research provides a concrete and manageable way to address these issues.