Student Success and Undergraduate Research

Newswise — Can undergraduate research move the needle on student retention, grade point averages, graduation rates, matriculation in graduate school, and student learning outcomes? As editor-in-chief James LaPlant (Valdosta State University) explains in his introduction, the spring 2018 issue of the peer-reviewed Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) seeks to answer this question through articles and shorter pieces offering assessment data and success stories from a variety of higher education institutions and a range of academic disciplines.

Articles include the following:

• an undergraduate research program at the City Colleges of Chicago in high-altitude ballooning, which reveals the positive influence of the program on the involvement of community college students in research, student retention and college completion, and formation of scientific professional identity.
  
  
• an undergraduate research experience for first-year students at the University of Pittsburgh that shows a positive effect on retention rates, GPAs, and admission to medical school.

• five assessment strategies used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
  
  
• a study of data from California Lutheran University demonstrating that research involvement is associated with higher undergraduate GPAs.
  
  
• an analysis of the one-year capstone experience for the Integrated Educational Studies major at Chapman University that focuses on community engagement and inquiry-based learning.
  
  
• a study by George Mason University of its assessment survey instrument that compares results from the individually mentored Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and capstone-style research courses.
  
  
• the Research Apprenticeship Program at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, in which beginning students paired with mentors serve as paid research apprentices, which shows a particularly powerful influence on first-generation and underrepresented minority students.

The quarterly SPUR is published by the Council on Undergraduate Research. Upcoming issues will focus on the role of undergraduate research in fostering diversity and achieving equity, mentoring models, and big data and undergraduate research.