Presidential Perspectives
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I am one of those presidents with a long institutional memory. When I arrived at Weber State our institutional enrollment was slightly more than 5,000 full-time equivalent students. Much of our instruction was conducted in single-story buildings that were original to the campus. We took great pride in our small classes and personalized instruction. The surrounding community took great pride in having their own college.
As is common at many urban and metropolitan universities, three decades of gradual change have produced a dramatic transformation. This fall our enrollment exceeded 23,000 students. Growth in faculty, external funding and campus infrastructure have paralleled the growth in enrollment. Alumni who return to WSU sometimes mention that they don’t recognize the campus.
Maintaining a focus on our mission and core values during a period of significant growth is challenging. How do we preserve the cherished relationship between faculty and students? How do we stay engaged with our community?
Undergraduate research is one of our key strategies for engaging students and faculty and connecting the university to the broader community. When students work with faculty on undergraduate research projects that involve the university’s service region, they have the opportunity to not only hone their research and learning skills, but also to enhance community knowledge and initiatives. The power of faculty across the campus to engage students and the community in ways appropriate to their disciplines and expertise accelerates the ability of the university to impact social, cultural, educational and economic development in the community beyond a few specific initiatives.
In the last decade, Weber State University has focused on building a robust undergraduate research initiative and significantly expanding our engagement in northern Utah, while continuing to foster the personalized learning experiences that are the hallmark of the Weber State experience for our students. Although each of these initiatives is independently worthy, the synergy that results from the integration of learning, scholarship and community engagement is where the magic happens. That synergy allows us to maximize our impact on students, faculty and community while leveraging our resources to support multiple goals, which is particularly important in difficult economic times.
For example, in the 2009 edition of Ergo—our student published, peer reviewed undergraduate research journal—sixty percent of the research projects highlighted in that publication involved the community and reflected the disciplines of social science, science, health, business and economics. Student research reports ranged from the study of microorganisms and industrial impacts on the Great Salt Lake to economic evaluation of clean air in the local county to the study of the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund. Since 2005, undergraduate students also have participated in a WSU National Science Foundation grant for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) studying the impact of fatigue on local military, medical and law enforcement personnel. The research efforts of those students have helped local employers create working conditions that improve performance. These are just a few of hundreds of examples of undergraduate research focusing on regional issues that have allowed Weber State to significantly expand its community engagement while simultaneously enhancing the learning experience for our students. Undergraduate research has elevated the quality of our teaching, research and community engagement at Weber State University.
We look forward to hosting the 2010 Council for Undergraduate Research Conference and the 2012 National Undergraduate Research Conference on our campus, as those gatherings will be an opportunity for faculty and students from across the nation to share their experiences and learn from each other. Undergraduate research is indeed a powerful pedagogy for our colleges and universities because it spans traditional academic boundaries and enables us to contribute to the public good in meaningful ways.
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