Near the end of the spring term 2007, Provost Karen L. Gould announced the creation of the Provost’s Undergraduate Student Summer Stipend program, a new award program intended to support research and scholarly activity at CSULB. This new program illustrates the CSULB commitment to providing all students access to faculty-mentored discovery and invention activities in laboratories, studios and in the field. One-on-one student/faculty interaction in the discovery environments can be energizing for both the student and mentor. Students can learn new technical skills, participate in knowledge creation and learn how it is shared with the scientific community and integrated into the classroom learning environment. Research-based learning leads to student engagement and, in many cases, creates new career aspirations for the students involved. Indeed, many of our faculty can trace the beginnings of their academic careers back to an undergraduate experience with a faculty member in scholarly and creative activity outside the traditional classroom.
The goal of this new award program was to encourage undergraduate students to engage in research, scholarly or creative activity in direct collaboration with a faculty-mentor. Although any aspect of research, scholarly and creative activity could form the core of the proposed experience, the stipend was intended to foster active participation by the student and ongoing interaction between the student and faculty member over a period of at least 30 days during the summer. The stipend could not be used to support an experience composed solely of independent study. A single faculty-mentor could sponsor one or two students. Each student selected for this award received $1500 to support their work with a faculty mentor.
To obtain this award, a student was expected to complete an application in conjunction with their chosen faculty mentor and submit it to the Office of University Research for processing. These proposals were then divided and randomly distributed to an Associate Dean from each of the seven colleges for evaluation. Using a standardized rating form, each application was evaluated/rated on each of the following dimensions: (1) description of the purpose of the research, scholarship or creative activity, including the clarity and thoroughness of this description as well as the significance or importance of the project, (2) description of the clarity, relevance and feasibility of the specific activities to be undertaken by the student, (3) description of the nature, frequency and appropriateness/adequacy of student-faculty interaction as outlined by the faculty mentor, and (4) description of the anticipated outcomes and goals of the project including clarity, quality/quantity of the outcomes and the likelihood that these outcomes could be accomplished within the projected timetable.
During the inaugural 2007 round, the call for applications went out during the last week in the spring semester. A total of 127 complete applications were received and evaluated. Applications were received from all CSULB colleges. Based on the standardized ratings of the proposals by the Associate Deans, 65 or 51% of the applications were selected for an award. Among the awards given, 11 faculty members sponsored two students.
The Provost and the Division of Academic Affairs will continue this well-received program. Reports of work accomplished will be compiled during the fall 2007 semester. In addition, an evaluation survey will be distributed to all participating students and faculty-mentors. Based on analyses of these materials, some changes to the procedures are expected for the 2008 award cycle.
