Undergraduate Research at Community Colleges: Equity, Discovery, and Innovation - Paperback

by Nancy H. Hensel (Author)

Co-published with the Council on Undergraduate ResearchThis book highlights the exciting work of two-year colleges to prepare students for their future careers through engagement in undergraduate research. It emerged from work in five community college systems thanks to two National Science Foundation grants the Council for Undergraduate Research received to support community colleges' efforts to establish undergraduate research programs. Chapters one, two, and three provide background information about community colleges, undergraduate research, and the systems the author worked with: California, City University of New York, Maricopa Community College District - Arizona, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Chapter four examines success strategies. The next five chapters look at five approaches to undergraduate research: basic/applied, course-based, community-based, interdisciplinary, and partnership research. Chapters ten, eleven and twelve discuss ways to assess and evaluate undergraduate research experiences, inclusive pedagogy, and ways to advance undergraduate research.Today there are 942 public community colleges in the United States, providing affordable access to 6.8 million students who enrolled for credit in one of the public two-year institutions in the United States. Students are more prepared for the next step in their education or careers after participating in quality UR experiences.

Author Biography

Nancy Hensel has been a faculty member, Dean, Provost, and University President. She served as Executive Officer of the Council of Undergraduate Research for seven years. In that role she served as Co-PI for several National Science Foundation grants to assist colleges in developing undergraduate research programs. She has written or edited a variety of books about undergraduate research, including Course-Based Undergraduate Research (Stylus, 2018); Transformative Research at Predominately Undergraduate Institutions with Kerry K. Karukstis (CUR, 2007) and Faculty Support and Undergraduate Research: Innovations in Faculty Role Definition, Workload, and Reward with Elizabeth L. Paul (CUR, 2012) She co-edited two monographs on undergraduate research that specifically address student research at community colleges. She also has given many speeches on undergraduate research and is a recognized national and international leader on this topic.