2004-2006 Leadership Initiative Seminar

2005 PKAL LI Leadership Seminar: Research-Rich- University of Maryland Baltimore County; Baltimore, Maryland

October 7 - 9, 2005

Research with undergraduate students is a hallmark of strong 21st century learning communities. Its implementation improves instruction, increases the availability of instrumentation for research and learning, and enhances the attractiveness of the institutional environment to faculty and students alike.

Issues

  • What are the institutional and departmental characteristics that nurture undergraduate research? What resources, facilities, and financial support are required to develop or maintain the infrastructure for research?
  • Can institutions with limited resources hope to engage their faculty in significant research? Are there limitations on research that is conducted at undergraduate institutions?
  • What are the national/regional sources of funding for research and instrumentation acquisition? When does off-campus research benefit institutional development?
  • Does research, as it is practiced at undergraduate institutions, compete with or enhance the teaching mission? What are the curricular designs that enhance opportunities for faculty-student research?
  • Does the present and projected future job market influence the urgency for implementation of undergraduate research?
  • How do new opportunities and the changing context- scientific advances that dissolve disciplinary boundaries, the increasing visibility of the global science communities- influence the planning and assessing of the research-rich learning environment?

Using the University of Maryland Baltimore County story as a model of success, this leadership seminar will address building a research-rich undergraduate environment to capture and sustain student interest in the sciences and mathematics. By "research-rich," we mean an environment where learning is active, hands-on, experiential, and research-based from the very first courses for all students to capstone courses for majors. As with all Leadership Seminars, PKAL will be addressing the individual and team leadership skills necessary to design and sustain research-rich learning environments.

Logistics

Resources

Notebook
The notebook for the UMBC meeting contains the meeting schedule, session abstracts, resources, and recommended readings.

Presentations

Building Global Research-Rich Connections
Introducing Undergraduates to Research in the Global Village
Carol Bender
Personal Reflections of a Leader
Freeman A. Hrabowski III
Freeman A. Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, reflects on transforming undergraduate science education at the university to focus undergraduate research and increasing participation and enrollment of minority students and faculty.
Project Kaleidoscope: Sixteen Years of Excellence in Finding 'What Works' in Undergraduate STEM Education
Kathie L. Olsen
The full transcript and slides of Dr. Olsen's talk at a PKAL Leadership Seminar at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in October, 2005, about vision, purpose, and the future of undergraduate science education.

Reports, Best Ideas, & Proceedings

Pursuing the Endless Frontier: Science for Future Generations
Kathie L. Olsen
This essay is based on remarks by Dr. Olsen at a PKAL Leadership Seminar in October, 2005. She addresses American competitiveness and the need to interest students in the sciences, as well as the leadership required of colleges, universities, and other stakeholders to achieve this vision.

Audio Recordings

Experiential Learning Exercise
Communication with Potato Heads
Judith A. Dilts
Led by Judith Dilts, Associate Dean of the College of Science & Mathematics & Professor of Biology - James Madison University; and Dean, PKAL Leadership Institutes.
The Kaleidoscopic Perspective
Informal comments and responses from the table: What it takes to make a difference, individual perspectives.
The Three-Legged Leadership Stool
Thomas E. Brady, Gary A. Gabriele, J. Lynn Zimmerman
Presented by
  • Gary Gabriele, Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Education - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (on leave at NSF)
  • Thomas Brady, Director of the Dvision of Integrative Organismal Biology, Directorate for Biological Sciences - National Science Foundation
  • J. Lynn Zimmerman, Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives and Professor of Biological Sciences - University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The UMBC Story
Lasse Lindahl, Ralph Pollack, Phyllis R. Robinson, Kathy Lee Sutphin, Janice M. Zengel, J. Lynn Zimmerman
This session of the PKAL seminar will present UMBC’s strategies in a historic perspective. Opening in 1966, UMBC is a relatively young institution compared to many universities and colleges. In this short time, UMBC has developed a rich tradition for involving both UMBC and non-UMBC students in its faculty research programs. Seven faculty and staff members will summarize the historic background for these traditions, as well as the principles that make the UMBC programs successful. These programs include structured opportunities for UMBC students from groups underrepresented in the sciences (Meyerhoff and MARC U*STAR) and summer and other undergraduate research experiences for undergraduates (BSURE, EMBARC and Beckman Scholars) as well as less structured opportunities for students who are not part of these formal programs.