OCR Text |
Show Message from John Francis A university education is, of course, more than a unchanging body of knowledge passed on from the faculty to the students. Education is about how we think, how we understand and interpret our changing world. An education at a research university is best understood as a shared endeavor between faculty and students in the pursuit of knowledge. It is an educational process that builds on the foundations of past scholarship in preparing students to contribute to future knowledge. How research universities impart to their students that education is very much an ongoing, creative process that interweaves research and instruction in preparing students to participate in a world that may offer challenges and opportunities very different from the ones we see today. Over the course of a student's program of study at our university we want our students not to be solely passive learners but to participate actively in making their education a rich and lasting achievement. An obvious and important way to achieve that goal is to invite our undergraduates to work with the faculty in the process of research, discovery and creativity. A research university is a great place to educate students for we can challenge them to go beyond being consumers of knowledge by preparing them to become producers of knowledge. There are many appealing qualities to this journal of undergraduate research. It's most appealing quality in my judgement is the solid evidence it provides for just how much our undergraduates can achieve when we invite them to join the community of scholars. This community which is, after all, the very essence of a research university. John Francis Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Undergraduate Studies |