SR 13-01 - Resolution to Define Student Research

Whereas, research is a key activity among the faculty; and

Whereas, engaging students in research is a high-impact practice; and

Whereas campus financial and personnel resources are deployed to support student research; and

Whereas, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), the national body supporting undergraduate research, recommends a campus definition as a low-cost means of institutionalizing student research; and

Whereas, the definition below conforms to the CUR national standard thereby allowing activities on our campus to be compared to those on other campuses; and

Whereas, effective assessment requires the ability to track student activities that qualify as research, to devise rubrics for assessment of achievement in those activities, and to determine which courses should be designated as research-intensive; and

Whereas, the Chancellor’s Office has informally requested that campuses collect data relating student research activity to measures of student success; and

Whereas, any campus publications purporting to publish student research require the ability to distinguish appropriate submissions, therefore be it resolved that;

The Academic Senate supports the following definition of student research:

Student Research at CSU Channel Islands describes a continuum of faculty-mentored student activity designed to produce or to prepare a student to produce original work. Activities will:

• Be initiated by faculty or by students.
• Meet disciplinary-appropriate standard(s) of acceptability.
• Make a contribution to the understanding of a significant local, global, multicultural, scientific, or international question or problem.
• Result in dissemination in a venue appropriate for the type of work conducted.