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University explores areas of research |
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Thursday, 22 February 2007 |
 Active Image | Utter
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by HEATHER SANDERS
News Reporter
The thesis statement does not just belong to graduate students and professors anymore.
Dr. Alan C. Utter, director of the Office of Student Research, said more and more undergraduate students are undertaking research projects, with a lot of encouragement from universities.
“It’s a hot issue right now in higher education,” Utter said.
He
said many top schools have programs for undergraduate research, such as
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina
State University.
Appalachian State University’s own research office opened in 2005, as a result of a move by Provost Stan R. Aeschleman.
“The whole idea is to promote opportunities for faculty and students to interact outside of class and work on an original research idea,” Utter said.
The office provides funding in the form of grants up to $500 to cover any costs in the research process, such as supplies or travel.
“In the future, [grants] will enable students to do more research,” Linda A. Veltze, professor of leadership and educational studies, said.
Utter said about 200 students last year were funded, and 60 percent of those were at the undergraduate level. The deadline for funding is the 15th of each month, but students must have a faculty mentor in order to apply.
A student’s mentor can be anyone they have had a class with, or someone who is doing research they are interested in, Utter said. The idea for the project can come from either the student or the instructor, or students can also find research opportunities on the office’s Web site.
One way students are getting involved is the Public Service Research Program. Dr. Norman E. Clark, faculty coordinator, said the program is for students who want to do reseach that is community-based.
“The point is to affect public policy or effect some real world change,” Clark said.
He said students are able to learn the difference between community and academic research, and they try to solve problems for local agencies.
Jason S. Radford, senior philosophy and religion major, is working with Appalachian and the Community Together to figure out why less men than women volunteer. He said the project has helped him become more familiar with the research process.
“It’s doing what your professors do,” Radford said. “You become the professor in this case.”
While, community-based research opportunities are available on the OSR Web site, some research ideas originate with the professor, the student, or a combination of both.
Veltze said she had the idea of interviewing Holocaust survivors because of a historian she knew in Italy. However, it was her student, Jerrianne B. Queen, master’s candidate for library science, who made applying for a grant possible.
In order to receive a SALT (Successful Applications of Learning Technologies) grant, Veltze said the project had to have a technical application.
It was Queen’s idea to put podcasts online, streaming pieces of the interviews. Veltze said she chose Queen because of a paper on how memoirs from Holocaust survivors could be used to reach teenagers today that Queen wrote on a study abroad trip to Germany.
“I knew she has this background,” Veltze said.
Queen has also taught eighth grade and is a librarian for King’s Mountain Middle School. Questions for the survivors will come from the students at her school.
“If it wasn’t for [Queen] out in the schools, the nature of this project would change,” Veltze said.
Because the SALT grant did not cover all of Queen’s expenses, she also received grants from OSR.
Utter said the office tries to fund as many projects as possible, though the process is very competitive and a review board reviews all applications. Funding comes from all areas of campus, including Academic Affairs, Student Development, every college dean, the Athletic Director and International Programs.
He said students should be willing to put time into their project, at least three to five hours per week outside of class.
Completing a research project makes a student more attractive to graduate programs, as well as jobs. Students show more confidence and a better ability to speak publicly, Utter said.
“It separates you from the other undergraduates,” he said.
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