Phyllis Bolin's Archive

Communication Department QEP involvement for 2010-11

3.  Jon Camp mentored three students through submission, acceptance, and presentation of research at the National Communication Association annual convention in San Francisco in November, 2010.

1. Since at least the 1940’s, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (and its predecessors) has maintained an active student laboratory research program. The department has received continuous research support from the Robert A. Welch Foundation since 1960, now totaling nearly $2.5M, in addition to various other research grants. The department received the university’s first endowed professorship, the M. E. “Mac” Pruitt Professorship in Chemistry in the early 1980’s, to support the research efforts of the Pruitt Professor. Every full-time professor has a Ph.D. and laboratory research space, and an active research program. One result of this 60-70-year commitment to research is that graduates from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have earned over 105 Ph.D.s in chemistry, biochemistry, and related disciplines. The department’s annual research budget, including salaries for faculty and students and supplies, but excluding any base salaries, is around $60,000.

2. A major focus of the department is preparation of students to enter health professions. As part of this preparation, these students shadow physicians and dentists, they work in pharmacies, they observe surgeries. Many go on medical missions where they can actually treat patients by injecting medication or pulling teeth. The meet regularly as part of the Christian Medical and Dental Association to hear testimonies from practicing doctors and dentists and professional school students about how their faith has impacted their profession and vice versa. These students take a medical ethics class that forces them to think about some of the toughest life and death decisions that lie before them, but in a setting where they are safe and have time to consider all aspects of these decisions. All of these research activities make these students more knowledgeable about the discipline they have chosen, and allow them to more fully commit to the path before them or perhaps to change course before they go too far down this path. Graduates from this department have earned over 160 professional doctoral degrees in the health care field.

3. For students from this department who do not enter graduate or professional schools, they primarily enter the workforce as chemists or biochemists. For these students, the availability of a degree from this department that is approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS) may make the difference in the kind of job for which they can apply. Some employers will not consider entry-level chemists or biochemists whose bachelors degrees are not approved by the ACS. For this reason, the ACU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1971 sought and received ACS accreditation, making it probably the first such accreditation of any department at ACU. The standards that are required by the ACS ensure that graduates with-ACS approved degrees have completed rigorous classes in chemistry and biochemistry that force them to explore the chemical literature, create a product using what they have learned from the chemical literature, and express the results of their research in written and oral formats. Students completing these programs are ideally suited to enter the chemical profession and be successful. M.E. “Mac” Pruitt rose to the level of vice-president for research at Dow with a BS degree from ACC as his only formal training. Many others have followed in his footsteps to enjoy successful careers in various industries and government.

Department of Sociology and Family Studies

College of Arts and Sciences

Abilene Christian University

Goals for Involving Faculty and Students

in Scholarly Research and Creative Activities

A. The Department will adopt what is largely considered a “best practice model” for teaching/mentoring undergraduate students in social research and statistics as follows:

1. Students first enroll in SOCI 415: Social Research during the fall semester in which they produce a formal research proposal; then,

2. Students enroll in SOCI 416: Social Statistics the following spring semester during which they engage in the actual collection and analysis of data according to the designed methodology described in their research proposal prepared during the fall semester.

3. Where possible, the same professor will teach the research and statistics courses in order to promote continuity between professor and student.

B. The Department will seek to support 1-2 faculty members per year in mentoring ACU students in research projects with the expressed purpose of presenting the research findings at the ACU undergraduate festival and other outlets appropriate to the discipline. One or more students will develop and submit a research proposal to study a topic of interests under the supervision of a faculty member. Students will report the findings of the study via classroom presentations, at the undergraduate research festival, at local and state conferences, or other settings.

C. The Department will request each faculty member to identify one or two courses in which they will embed research related scholarly activity. For example: in FAM 251 students currently 1) select a topic, 2) create and revise interview questions, 3) collect and analyze qualitative data, and  4) disseminate findings through notebook and in-class presentations.

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

College of Education and Human Services

Abilene Christian University

Department Goals aligning with the QEP

1.     Utilize research literacy skills to locate and use seminal literature in the field. Students in CSD programs will be required to use reliable databases to search journals and other peer reviewed literature for seminal resources pertaining to topics in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology.  Students will then use this information to write research papers, determine the efficacy (EBP) for assessment/treatment strategies, and/or formulate a literature review to support a research question/hypothesis.

2.     Develop and carry out a research proposal with a faculty mentor. Select undergraduate students and all graduate students in CSD will develop a research proposal investigating a topic of interest.  The students will work closely with a faculty mentor during the execution of the research proposal.  The students will write up the results of the proposal in preparation of disseminating the research study in a public setting.

3.     Submit research project for presentation in a peer reviewed forum. Students who participate in faculty mentored research will submit their project for presentation in a peer reviewed forum.  Traditionally, this forum is the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention held each spring.  Other forums are available depending on the nature of the research project.

The ACU School of Social Work equips undergraduate and graduate students in an evidence-based approach to practice. We prepare students to access, appraise, use and generate research as a tool for the student’s professional performance and the strengthening of human service delivery systems. The structure builds research based on students’ internships and the specified need of the organization.

It is our goal that students:

• Experience individual faculty consultation on research in which they engage. It is our understanding that students need opportunity to conceptualize their research topic one-on-one with experts in their field. Additionally, students should benefit from direct feedback on structure, methodology, and analysis, as well as details of writing research.

• Produce research that adds to the practice knowledge on the individual, group, organizational and community levels of practice. Students engage in a research process with their internship to discover the needs of the organization (intervention effectiveness, needs assessment, program evaluation, best practices). Students are held accountable to both the School and the agency to produce new knowledge that benefits the organization and reflects the standards of academic scholarship.

• Effectively disseminate that research in arenas appropriate to the research. The School promotes the distribution of student research through three avenues.

o   Each organization in which students intern will have access to that research for the purpose of aiding in organizational effectiveness.

o   Students will be encouraged to enter research in the university-wide research festivals.

o   Students will be given opportunity to disseminate exceptional research in professional settings such as regional and national conferences and submission to publication.

QEP Goals for DBMM

March 6, 2011

Drs. Rodney Ashlock, Chris Hutson, & Jeanene Reese

1.       Third Year Greek: A goal for third year Greek is to actively engage students in scholarly research that leads to possible publication. An excellent example of meeting this goal is demonstrated by third year students from 2009-10 who chose to continue their research over the summer and published an article in a peer-reviewed journal: Curt Niccum, Joel Brown, Benjamin Covington, Eric Gentry, Jacob Lollar, and Joshua White, “Objects of Worship: Wallace’s Case for Proskynein,” Restoration Quarterly 51 (2009) 115-119.

2.       Senior Capstone Experience: A goal for this course/experience, currently awaiting discussion and vote by the DBMM faculty, is for students to do an independent research project based on personal interest or future ministry. This project is intended to be both research based and solution oriented. Excellent papers could possibly be presented at conferences and published in any number of journals depending on the area of ministry investigated.

3.       Upper Level Majors: A goal for upper level majors is to expose them to scholarly research by encouraging them to attend various conferences that represent disciplines taught with in the department. Two possibilities are the regional or national meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature or the American Academy of Religion.

What does it mean to mentor students through the research process in Teacher Education?

Mentoring students through research means walking them through the entire process. Not only how to form research questions, choose a methodology, collect and analyze data, and present findings, but a focus on ethical research practices is extremely important. Students need to be exposed to the IRB process, not only as a required step in the research process, but also as the right thing to do in terms of protecting participants’ rights, especially those of children. Value also needs to placed on children’s consent to participation, not just as another step, but as an ethical, caring practice.

I think the students also need to be introduced to the world of scholarship as both consumers and producers. Learning the language of research, understanding how conferences work, and walking through a proposal submission process.

Teacher Education Research Goals:

1. Raise funds for student travel to research conferences. The experience of attending a research conference is a powerful part of preparing students to think as scholars. It demystifies it for them, making it an attainable goal to present their own work at future conferences.

2. Develop a Teacher Education Research Handbook  for faculty mentors and undergraduate researchers to have available as a resource. Will include things such as IRB history and processes, tips for constructing research questions, instructions for writing an abstract, templates for proposals or papers, etc.

3. Our hope is that 15 undergraduates per year will participate in substantive research projects beyond what is required in professional education courses.

QEP Thoughts Teacher Education.docx

Undergraduate Research—Scientific Reasoning

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (A&E) are applied sciences building on the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry) and for agribusiness, also the social sciences.  Therefore, our students have historically been exposed to the scientific method and critical reasoning throughout their academic experience at ACU.  Yet, to more fully engage our students in this process in the future, three key steps are being taken.  They are:

1)     All A&E students take AENV 110- Introduction to Agricultural and Environmental Systems at initial enrollment.  A part of the course curriculum concentrates on the scientific method and critical thinking, and how applied scientists use the scientific method.

2)     A&E has set an initial goal that 5% of our students will engage in faculty mentored research as undergraduates.  Subsequently, research findings will be developed into oral or poster presentations for delivery at disciplinary professional conferences.  A&E is currently meeting this goal.  In fact, many of our students have won honors at these conferences.  Students are also expected to present their research at the ACU Undergraduate Research Festival.  For the first time in 2011, ACU students will also present their research at the inaugural Research Symposium sponsored by the Agriculture Consortium of Texas.  Our next step is to increase this number to 10% of our undergraduates as funding allows.

3)     A&E students engage in senior-level capstone courses in their respective disciplines (i.e., agribusiness, animal science, environmental science).  Products vary, but senior-level students are expected to produce artifacts ranging from scientifically supported position papers to pieces built upon primary data.  All artifacts are evaluated by A&E faculty and several of them are assessed by evaluators outside of the department (e.g., writing samples for Writing Across the Curriculum, professional conferences).

The Department of Foreign Languages works with students on undergraduate research the following ways:

• Carolyn Thompson is serving as mentor for Jessica Backfisch’s poster presentation in the Research Festival.  The research project comes from the Senior Seminar on INTS…where each student has to write a 20-25 page research paper on an internationally focused problem.
• Harlan Rall is mentoring Lisa White–with a good part of mentoring also coming from Vernon Williams–for the same festival.  Lisa’s topic will look at immigration difficulties into the US and some reverse economical issues.
• Rall mentored the Model UN group, for Model UN presentations and competition.

The Department of Theater includes several projects to work with students in research and creative projects:

• In THEA 101 Transforming Artists, Donna Hester had first-year and new students in the Transforming Artists class produce an original play, Hungerville, written by ACU Theatre Alumnus Heather Amend.  The show is based on interviews with guests at a DFW ministry to the homeless.  A senior theatre major, Grant Scott, directed the 25-minute piece which included singing and dancing.  It was performed for the theatre departmental chapel in November.
• Adam Hester, directed Othello by William Shakespeare for the Abilene Shakespeare Festival June 24-26, July 1-3, 2010, in Fulks Theatre. Students were vital in creating images and research as they connected with ACU’s Mobile Initiative for an innovative approach to theatre (see [youtube jxFCsRRO6MA])
• In collaboration with ACU’s new core curriculum, the Department of Theatre chose a compelling play to coordinate with readings and experiences of the Cornerstone class required for every freshmen. Mother Teresa is Dead, by Helen Edmundson, played November 16-20, 2010, in Fulks Theatre offering talk-backs each night. Theatre students created the dramaturgical research used in the play and made it accessible to Cornerstone students.

See: http://blogs.acu.edu/cornerstone/

• Amy Simpson was involved in a number of Austin-based theatre projects, which allowed her to work inter-departmentally and with students.  Honor’s College and English Professor Joe Stephenson and Simpson served as Dramaturgs for the acclaimed Hidden Room production of The Taming of the Shrew, which has produced with “original practices”, in much the same way it would have been presented in Shakespeare’s day.  Dr. Stephenson and Simpson served as consultants for these “original practice” elements of the show.  The play starred ACU Theatre alumnus Ryan Crowder and featured ACU Theatre alumnus Nathan Jerkins.

• Simpson also worked with Theatre senior Emily Rankin to write a small article for a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, which was presented by Penfold Theatre of Austin (a theatre started by three ACU Theatre alumnus, Crowder, Jerkins and Sean Martin).  Emily served as the Stage Manager for the show, which was presented in an outdoor venue.

• Gary Varner’s Children’s Theatre class wrote a musical morality play based on Aesops fables and is getting ready to tour it to area schools this semester.
• Sandy Freeman worked with a senior design student to research, co-design, and execut costume, hair and makeup designs for the Abilene Shakespeare Festival’s production of Othello, Fulks Theatre at ACU, June 24-26, 2010. This production that was transposed into a contemporary style was conceived in conjunction with the ACU Mobile Learning Initiative, employing live audience feedback during the show and scenic elements projected onto eight wide-screen monitors.
• Freeman served as a costume consultant and stylist for a professional photographic shoot with photographer Gordon Trice for artwork for the new wing of Cook Children’s Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas, October 25-26, 2010.
• Freeman attended the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Regional Festival with seven Theatre majors in Amarillo, February 22-25, 2011.  Most of these students were entered in juried competitions with both undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of Directing and Acting.  Several placed in the final rounds, acknowledged as leading competitors in this six-state region.