A new series of videos features leading scholars identifying best practices for mentoring undergraduate researchers and supporting faculty mentors.
Although an increasing number of faculty members are mentoring undergraduate student researchers, additional research is needed to determine how to broaden student access to undergraduate research, how faculty mentors can best guide their students’ emerging work, and how institutions can better support the work of faculty mentors.
In 2014, Elon’s Center for Engaged Learning (CEL) hosted a week-long research seminar on Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research that brought together international scholars to examine the unique challenges of mentoring undergraduate research and determine evidence-based best practices for both faculty mentors and institutions. Seminar participants will return to Elon in July 2015 to continue their multi-institutional research projects and in July 2016 to share the results of their collaborative inquiries.
A new series of CEL videos highlights some of the challenges and strategies the scholars explored during the 2014 seminar. The videos feature scholars from a variety of disciplines and institutions, including Kathy Takayama (Brown University), Michelle Bata (Clark University), Paul Miller (Elon University), Helen Walkington (Oxford Brookes University), Jenny Shanahan (Bridgewater State University), Lysa MacKeen (Duke Global Health Institute), Brad Wuetherick (Dalhousie University), Dijana Ihas (Pacific University), Laura Behling (Knox College), Elizabeth Ambos (Council on Undergraduate Research), Brad Johnson (United States Naval Academy), Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler (Elon University), Susan Larson (Concordia College), and Heather Fitz Gibbon (College of Wooster).
The video series has seven parts, all available here:
- Defining Undergraduate Research and Inquiry
- High Quality Undergraduate Research Mentoring
- Supporting Faculty Mentors Across Their Career Stages
- Institutional Practices that Foster Undergraduate Research Mentoring
- Scaling Access and Success
- Significant Questions and Challenges
- Undergraduate Research and Journals & Professional Organizations
To learn more about the CEL research seminar on Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research, contact Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler (vanderma@elon.edu) or Paul Miller (millerp@elon.edu). To learn more about CEL’s research seminars or video series, contact Jessie L. Moore (jmoore28@elon.edu). To explore other CEL resources, visit the Center’s web site.