Undergraduate Research Learning in the Liberal Arts: A Case Study of Transformative Student-Faculty Collaborations

Abstract

To cultivate a learning environment promoting meaningful engagement with research, Huron University College—a small, primarily undergraduate liberal arts institution—launched the Centre for Undergraduate Research Learning (CURL). One major initiative of CURL's pilot phase was to fund extracurricular research opportunities (Student Fellowships) for undergraduate students. These projects enable students to conduct independent research projects with the guidance of a faculty mentor. The current paper presents the findings from a case study of the first four CURL Student Research Fellowship award recipients and their faculty mentors, using the concept of transformative experience (Heddy and Pugh, 2015) as the lens to conduct a content analysis of participant interviews. Our findings show evidence of substantive dialogue and active collaboration between students and their faculty mentors, providing a safe space for students to experiment, explore and develop their research skills. The students articulated development of specific skills related to research process, connection between theory and practice, as well as personal intellectual and interpersonal gains, which are suggestive of a transformative experience in progress. Although this paper reports on a limited sample, the findings may provide insight into the potential transformative impact of mentored undergraduate research experiences in the liberal arts.