Website: uca.edu/research
UCA offers students the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research experiences across all colleges and disciplines. Whatever the discipline, the goal of undergraduate research is to involve students in the process of investigating actively contested questions and participating in scholarly conversations within the field. Students may participate in formal undergraduate research experiences through independent study or thesis capstone courses in their majors or in the UCA Core. All students in the Schedler Honors College and University Scholars Program complete a capstone experience, which may be an undergraduate research project.
Undergraduate research is supported by undergraduate research grants, and students have the opportunity to present their research at symposia within the colleges. Undergraduate research is also supported by Torreyson Library faculty through library instruction sessions. UCA’s Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program provides qualifying undergraduate students across the university the opportunity to participate in sustained research or creative endeavors with faculty mentors. The SURF program is administered through UCA Sponsored Programs. All eligible students also have the opportunity to receive recognition for undergraduate research through Honors in the Major.
The Schedler Honors College supports students in research and publication through Undergraduate Research Grants for Education (URGE). The Schedler Honors College believes that undergraduate scholarship is at the heart of a good education. Through undergraduate research opportunities, the college seeks to:
- replace traditional archetypes of teacher and student with a collaborative investigative model, where research is done jointly by students and instructors
- foster the role of the teacher as mentor and facilitator
- replace competitive modes of inquiry with collaborative modes
- focus on learning by doing rather than passive acceptance
- reorient internal campus networks and material resources around support for the intellectual journeys of students