Magnify UNT: Establishing a Center for Undergraduate Research

and Creative Activities

Dr. Gloria C. Cox, Dean, Honors College
Dr. Diana Elrod, Director, McNair Scholars Program
Dr. Susan B. Eve, Associate Dean, Honors College

Team Members:

Dr. Tom McCoy, Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Dr. Lisa Henry, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Department of Anthropology
Dr. John Ishiyama, Professor of Political Science, Director of Research Experience for Undergraduates in Political
Science, and Lead Editor, American Political Science Review
Dr. Angela Wilson, Regents Professor of Chemistry and Director for the Center for
Advanced Scientific Computing and Modeling
Dr. Susan Eve, Associate Dean of the Honors College, Developer of the Honors College
Research Track, and UNT Coordinator of the Terry Scholars Program
Ms. Laura McKinnon, University Libraries
Dr. Lee Hughes, Associate Professor of Biology and UNT Director of the Howard Hughes Medical Research
Program
Ms. Donna Fleming, Associate Dean of the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science
Dr. William Cherry, Associate Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Joseph Oppong, Professor of Geography, Associate Dean of Toulouse Graduate School
Dr. Debrah Beck, Health Professions Coordinator, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Daniel Rodeheaver, Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology
Dr. Jeanne Tunks, Associate Professor of Teacher Education and Administration
Dr. Kris Chesky, Professor of Instrumental Studies and Director of Education and Research for the Texas Center of
Music and Medicine
Dr. Cathy Hartman, Associate Dean of Libraries
Dr. Nicole Dash, Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of the College of Public Affairs
and Community Service
Dr. Denise Baxter, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts and Design
Dr. Angela Wilson, Regents Professor of Chemistry and Director for the Center for Advanced Scientific Computing
and Modeling, Department of Chemistry
Dr. Jennifer Way, Professor of Art Education and Art History
Dr. William Acree, Jr., Professor of Chemistry and Chair of Department of Chemistry
Ms. Cheylon Brown, Director of the Multicultural Center
Dr. Bertina Combes, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
Dr. Rebecca Dickstein, Professor of Biological Sciences
Dr. James Duban, Professor of English and Director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships
Dr. Sharon Jenkins, Professor of Psychology
Dr. Jim Meernik, Professor of Political Science
Dr. Mariela Nunez-Janes, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Dr. Victor R. Prybutok, Regents Professor of Decision Science and Associate Dean of Toulouse Graduate School
Dr. Enedelia Sauceda, Staff Psychologist at Counseling and Testing
Dr. Micheal Sayler, Associate Professor of Education Psychology and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
and Research
Dr. Denise Perry Simmons, Senior Director of Research Development
Dr. Mark Vosvick, Associate Professor of Health Psychology and Director of the Center for Psychosocial Health
Dr. Mark Wardell, Dean, Toulouse Graduate School
Marisha Frazier, UNT Student, McNair Scholar, and Honors College Member
Michael Young, UNT Student, McNair Scholar, and Honors College Member
Ike Esedebe, UNT Student, SGA Representative
Pedro Ortiz, UNT Student, SGA Representatives
Hanna Bagheri, UNT Student, SGA Representative


September 2014
Eagles: An Undergraduate Research Proposal Contents



Table of Contents


Executive Summary i
Narrative
I. Introduction 1
II. Need 7
III. Plan of Operation 10
A. Enhancing Discovery and Capstone Core Courses 10
B. Establishment of Concept/Topic-Based Research Courses 13
C. Establishment of the Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI) 14
D. Establishment of the Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (URFP) 15
E. Establishment of an Office of Undergraduate Research 15
IV. Budget and Resources 17
V. Assessment and Evaluation Plan 19
References 21
Tables
Table 1. Characteristics of UNTs Undergraduate Population2014 Spring 7
Table 2. Budget 1 17
Table 3. Budget 2 17
Appendices
Appendix A Syllabi 24
Appendix B Florida State University Survey 29
Appendix C Return on Investment 39



i

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Importance of Undergraduate Research. This Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) seeks to
institutionalize undergraduate research at the University of North Texas (UNT). This proposal
aligns perfectly with UNTs First Bold Goal: to provide the best undergraduate educational
experience in Texas. A joint statement issued in 2005 by the Council on Undergraduate Research
(CUR) and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) referred to
undergraduate research as the pedagogy of the 21st century (Kinkead, 2012). While offices of
undergraduate research are the norm at major research universities, UNT lags behind peer
institutions in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Indeed, the University of Texas at Dallas,
the University of Texas at Arlington, Southern Methodist University, and Texas Christian
University boast centers or offices for undergraduate research and/or scholarly and creative
activities. Nationally, 23 percent of seniors have worked on research projects with faculty, but
that number is only 17 percent (NSSE, 2013) at UNT. This QEP proposal will facilitate our
catching up, and even moving beyond, in this area of undergraduate education and development.

Implementation of this QEP will significantly enrich our students academic opportunities while
enhancing UNTs academic reputation, with regard to pedagogy in general, and with attention, as
well, to minority enrollment and retention. That is so because undergraduate research
significantly affects retention and graduation rates of all students, including underrepresented
and minority students. One-third of undergraduates at UNT are underrepresented minorities, with
predictions that, by 2040, half of the UNT student population will be Hispanic; 11 percent,
African American. In Texas, the six-year graduation rate for African American students is
currently 35.6 percent; for Hispanics, 44.7 percent; and for Caucasians, 64.6 percent. Factors
influencing low graduation rates include financial need, transfer adjustment, and first-generation
challenges. While this proposal cannot remedy all of these problems, research-based
undergraduate education can significantly enhance retention prospects for academic engagement
and distinction. Moreover, academic acculturation (including close ties between students and
faculty) is one of the best predictors of student retention (Tinto, 1975). Because such
relationships develop most productively through collaborative undergraduate research, we
further urge the need and benefit of this QEP proposal.

The Carnegie Foundations Boyer Commission Report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education:
A Blueprint for America's Research Universities (1998), recommended that undergraduate
research opportunities should be available to all students. UNT has several sectors that have
already demonstrated the benefits of undergraduate research, suggesting the advantage of
university-wide initiative in this area. For example, the Texas Academy of Mathematics and
Science focuses on both summer- and year-long research programs for students. For that reason,
TAMS students have accounted for 52 of UNTs 54 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, placing UNT
among the nations leaders in this competition (and first in the State of Texas, among both
Magnify UNT Executive Summary
ii

private and public universities). Undergraduate research programs in the Honors College and
McNair Scholars Program have already helped students win additional distinctions, including
seven National Science Foundation Doctoral Awards. The benefits of undergraduate research
have been conspicuous, as well, in UNT departments that have successfully sponsored NSF
Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Those departments include Anthropology,
Chemistry, Physics, and Political Science. Also serving as pathfinders are the 200 campus-wide
students who have presented research papers or posters at University Scholars Day. In addition,
over 300 undergraduate researchers have thus far published in The Eagle Feather, UNTs
undergraduate online research journal. Even so, such numbers represent a mere fraction of our
undergraduate population. Additionally, undergraduate research offers secondary opportunities
for UNT graduate students who are involved in undergraduate mentoring, an enriching
experience for our faculty, and opportunities to showcase our own programs to some of our best
undergraduates.
Our goal is to institutionalize these opportunities and thereby introduce many more of our
students to the craft of research and everything that endeavor implies about the creation of new
knowledge in the course of structuring an ideal college education.

Student Learning Objectives. Germane to, and supportive of, that goal is the perspective on
undergraduate research offered by The Council on Undergraduate Research. That body defines
undergraduate research as an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student
that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline. Such endeavor
includes individual and collaborative writing, oral presentations, works of visual art, scholarly
compilations, exhibits, musical compositions, plays, performances, public scholarship, and
publications in many different forms (Klos, Shanahan, and Young, 2011). Thus, undergraduate
research encompasses all fields of study and, beyond matters pertaining to retention (above), has
benefits for the students and university alike. Undergraduate research stands to encourage
undergraduates to master research methodology; to pursue graduate education (perhaps at
UNT); to develop the creative, adaptable, and innovative mindsets valued by employers; to
cultivate mentoring relationships featured in ideal educations; and to achieve higher measures of
critical thinking, problem solving, and intellectual independence.

Plan of Operation. The proposal has five major features:
1) We propose the enhancement and/or development of Discovery and Capstone core
classes to offer freshmen and sophomores a process-oriented research class (Discovery),
and to provide juniors and seniors with a product-oriented research class (Capstone).
Student-learning outcomes would be those already in place for Discovery and Capstone
classes. Students would acquire skills that would serve them well in all their academic
activities, and throughout their lives.
Magnify UNT Executive Summary
iii

2) We further recommend the development of upper-level research classes that bring
together a faculty researcher with a group of students to research one concept or topic for
the entire semester. Such courses would serve more advanced students and provide
groups of students interested in a common topic with an opportunity to work together
with a faculty mentor. Each student would produce a major paper or other project in this
output-oriented program.
3) We also propose the re-establishment of the Undergraduate Research Initiative to bring
together departmental faculty and undergraduates to investigate topics in accord with the
research endeavors and interests of particular departments and majors. Departments
would compete for funding.
4) We suggest the establishment of an Undergraduate Research Fellows Program that would
recognize and support the excellence among student researchers working with a faculty
mentor. This program would highlight and recognize UNTs best student researchers.
5) Finally, we urge the creation of an Office of Undergraduate Research within the Office of
the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Research is an academic activity
and should be positioned to serve all UNT colleges, departments, and programs.

Budget and Resources. A budget ranging from $1.1 million to $1.6 million would support the
following: faculty restructuring of courses to include additional research; the Departmental
Undergraduate Research Initiatives; the Research Fellows Program; and development of the
Office of Undergraduate Research;.

Assessment and Evaluation. The success of the QEP will be assessed in two ways. First, we
will use a campus-wide survey biannually to assess how many students have participated in
undergraduate research, and at what level. A second level of assessment will account for UNTs
higher-level undergraduate researchers by name, gathering, as well, information pertinent to an
ongoing longitudinal study. That inquiry seeks to evaluate the effects of undergraduate research
on retention and graduation; to gauge graduate school and professional school attendance; and to
determine outcomes pertaining to career building.




i


Magnify UNT Introduction
1

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2015 the University of North Texas will celebrate its 125
th
anniversary. After many years of
building fine programs, what better time for our academic community to take steps to move UNT
into the top tier of American universities? In that spirit that we put forth a proposal to enrich the
academic opportunities offered to all UNT students, across the disciplines, by engaging them in
inquiry-based learning with faculty and by promoting an innovation-oriented culture. Healey and
Jenkins (2009) argue that all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions should
experience learning through, and about, research and inquiry. We concur.

We therefore propose, as the next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for UNT, the
institutionalization of undergraduate research and creative activity. This QEP will transform the
undergraduate experience at UNT by allowing undergraduates to experience systematic and
comprehensive opportunities to conduct scholarly work in the arts and humanities, social
sciences, mathematics, engineering, and the physical sciences. UNT should use as its point of
departure fine undergraduate-research initiatives already in place (for example, in the Honors
College, in the McNair Program, in TAMS, and in the Howard Hughes Program) to expand
university-wide and with the aid of comprehensive infrastructureundergraduate research and
further creative endeavor resulting from more students working with faculty on inquiry-based
initiatives.

Learning experiences such as engagement in undergraduate research and creative activity
provide numerous benefits for students, faculty mentors, and the institution (Sung and Yang,
2008). Boyd and Wesemann (2009) note that, Engaging undergraduate students in research,
scholarship, and creative activity is a proven and powerful practice for enhancing educational
outcomes and expanding frontiers of knowledge. Moreover, the CUR Fact Sheet Learning
Through Research (2010), reported six advantages of undergraduate research. Three of those
benefit the institutionby increasing retention; by increasing enrollment in graduate education
and providing effective career preparation; and by promoting a culture of innovation. The other
three benefits accrue directly to studentsby enhancing the learning experience through faculty
mentoring relationships; by developing critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and
Magnify UNT Introduction
2

intellectual independence; and by immersing students in research methodology. Such are the
components of college-level quality education.

Our QEP finds additional support in The Carnegie Foundations Boyer Commission Report,
Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities (1998).
It sets forth ten recommendations, the first of which is to make research-based education the
standard in higher education. The Commission contends that American research universities
otherwise shortchange undergraduates (and, by implication, their parents). We wish to stress that
research opportunities for all undergraduates takes lead position in the Commissions ten
recommendations.

Our QEP is similarly in synch with the LEAP (Liberal Education and Americas Promise)
Program of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. LEAP identifies
undergraduate research as one of several high-impact educational activities. The report, titled
Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College (2002), stresses
that research-based, active learning creates empowered learners.

Of the many ways to express the various benefits of undergraduate research, we focus on those
that seem most relevant to UNT.

A. Participation in undergraduate research or creative activity, whether within a class
or as a single researcher with a faculty mentor, presents opportunities for active,
engaged learning.

While some persons still credit the assertion that students can be productive passive learners in
auditorium classrooms, this assumption has increasingly come under question since publication
of the Boyer Report (1998), which lauds research-based learning and engaged scholarship.
Hakim (2000) elaborates on the benefits of active learning:

A primary objective of higher education is to prepare students to become independent, life-long
learners. When this objective is coupled with the goal of providing students the ability to make
original contributions to the knowledge of their fields, the stage is set for an active learning
Magnify UNT Introduction
3

environment that is at the core of the undergraduate research and investigative studies movement
(p. iii).
B. Participation in undergraduate research increases the likelihood of the students
staying in college and graduating.

The Council on Undergraduate Research numbers, among its six benefits of undergraduate
research, retention. Numerous studies attribute this effect to research, including Nagda et al.
(1998), who reports that early participation in undergraduate research increases retention of
African American students. In a related study, Tinto (1994) suggests the integration of students
into the social and intellectual fabric of institutional life promotes retention. Students who have
faculty research mentors are thus well-connected to the mentors and to the institution, promoting
retention and engagement, and facilitating what Kuh et al. (2007) conclude to be a life changing
experience (p. 118).

C. Participation in undergraduate research enhances the students academic and
personal development.
Lopatto (2010) states that undergraduate researchers report personal gains, including self-
confidence, independence, obstacle tolerance (and resolution), interest in the discipline, and
sense of accomplishment. Similarly, Russell et al. (2007) conclude that undergraduate research
attracts a diverse population of students, helping them grow in confidence. And even beyond
those benefits of undergraduate research is the conclusion by Fechheimer et al. (2011) that
extended research engagement correlated with an increase in GPA, even after using SAT to
control for the initial ability of students (p.1).
For the sake of brevity and cogency, we shall quote a summary statement about the benefits of
undergraduate research. The following utterance is that of Dr. Mary Crowe, Director of
Undergraduate Research at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and President of the
Council on Undergraduate Research in 2012-13:
[P]rior work has shown students who are involved in undergraduate research: 1)
gain self-confidence (Ferrari and Jason 1996, Campbell and Skoog 2004, Holden
et al. 2004), 2) are more likely to complete their undergraduate education (Nagda
et al. 1998, Ishiyama 2001), and 3) are more likely to go on to graduate school
(Kremer and Bringle 1990, Chandra et al. 1998, Alexander et al. 2000, Foertsch et
Magnify UNT Introduction
4

al. 2000, Ishiyama 2001, Bauer and Bennett 2003) compared to students who did
not have a research experience (p. 1).
Such data suggest that undergraduate research is the gatekeeper of academic excellence and
distinction. Such, in limited scope, is already the case at UNT, where undergraduates in research
programs are thriving, producing, and excelling. Fifty-two students from The Texas Academy of
Mathematics and Science have, as noted earlier, become Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. Why,
we should ask, are there only two (additional) UNT Goldwater scholars from beyond the ranks of
TAMS? The answer resides in the sparse number of conventional UNT sophomores and juniors
who possess sufficient research experience to qualify for this competition. More positively, UNT
has had seven winners of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. All
were undergraduate researchers, and nearly all were Honors College members or McNair
Scholars, or both. We propose, therefore, that the examples of undergraduate research-based
education provided by TAMS, McNair, and the Honors College can, and should, serve as an
example of, and foundation for, interdisciplinary pedagogical initiative in this area of
undergraduate education and personal development.

The evidence above demonstrates that this QEP initiative aligns with UNTs first Bold Goal:
Provide the best undergraduate educational experience in Texas. The following statement defines
the Universitys top priority:
Texas needs great universitiesour state has one of the nations fastest growing
student populations but lags in key areas of public and higher education. By
providing the strongest education to more people, UNT will help both our
students and our state succeed. We will give our students the options, the
opportunities and most of all the support they need for the best college
experience possible. To attract and support high-quality students, UNT will
foster an environment of excellence with:
Dedicated faculty who are committed to the highest standards of
teaching, research, and scholarship
Rigorous and innovative programs that enhance the relationship between
teaching and learning
Magnify UNT Introduction
5

Strong support systems to ensure that more students stay in school,
engage in service and campus life, and graduate on time

Undergraduate research-based education clearly allows us to meet and surpass these
expectations.

How do we foster the above environment, thereby providing optimal undergraduate education?
The answer resides in implementation of the steps necessary to have UNT offer its
undergraduates opportunities to learn about research and creative activity is in their discipline, or
to have them directly participate in research or otherwise become engaged in creative projects
that supplement knowledge or enhance creative performance in diverse fields of study. We thus
concur with the joint statement issued in 2005 by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)
and the National Council on Undergraduate Research (NCUR): [U]undergraduate research is
the pedagogy of the 21
st
century (Kinkead, 2012).

Our QEP proposal is, moreover, entirely consistent, beyond this conviction, with UNTs stated
resolve to foster an environment of excellence, a key aspect of which is to provide rigorous and
innovative programs that enhance the relationship between teaching and learning. The best way
to create such an environment of excellence is by establishing a campus wide climate that
embraces undergraduate research and/or mentor-directed engagement with creative activities.
We therefore propose a concerted institutional effort to engage more undergraduates in mentored
research or creative activity, with the added benefit of graduating more students in a timely
mannerstudents who are critical thinkers engaged in the global enterprise of creating new
knowledge.

We cannot stress enough the curricular inclusiveness of this proposal, since undergraduate
research is defined as an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that
makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline (Learning Through
Research: Fact Sheet, 2011). The term undergraduate research therefore embraces all
disciplines. Indeed, to illustrate the breadth of the concept, the Council on Undergraduate
Research published Creative Inquiry in the Arts & Humanities: Models of Undergraduate
Research (Klos, et al., 2011), a guide for those wanting more ideas to move forward across the
Magnify UNT Introduction
6

curriculum. Among the kinds of work suggested are individual and collaborative writing, oral
presentations, works of visual art, scholarly compilations, exhibits, musical compositions, plays,
performances, public scholarship, and publications in many different forms (p. 1). Stated
otherwise, undergraduate research connotes campus-wide engagement and creativity.
What follows is a delineation of the need for this proposal; of the operational plan for attaining
proposed actions (including those relating to personnel); of the requested budget; and of
assessment and evaluation.
Magnify UNT Need
7

II. NEED

UNT performs less than optimally in promoting undergraduate research than do universities
specified in Carnegie-measured peer-group comparison. Nationally, 23 percent of seniors have
worked on research projects with faculty. For those in our Carnegie classification, 25 percent
have worked with faculty on research projects. Public institutions in the southwest United States
report 18 percent have worked with faculty on research projects. At UNT, that number is only 17
percent (NSSE, 2013). Thus, the national statistics as well as our own UNT statistics indicate
that 75-80% of our undergraduate students miss opportunities to participate in the active-learning
opportunities that undergraduate research provides. Our QEP proposal would bridge that gap.

Our championing undergraduate research would, as suggested above, have a positive impact on
retention, especially since, in comparison with other area institutions, UNT undergraduates are
traditionally underrepresented (36%), first-generation (46%), receive need-based financial aid
(50% ) or are transfer students (48%) (Table 1). Research engagement would conspicuously
help these and other students form bonds of personal friendship and intellectual challenge that
would enhance confidence, commitment, and staying power. The point finds support in projected
demographics: from 2010 to 2040, the DFW region is projected to grow by 3.9 million people, or
by 63 percent, making it the fastest growing region of the state. Additionally, this area has the
largest 15-to-34 statewide age population and is expected to remain the most populated region
through 2040. We must, therefore, remedy the fact that, in comparison to all ten regions of the
state, the DFW-MSA population has one of the lowest higher-education degree or certificate
completion rates (THECB, 2012).

Table 1. Characteristics of UNTs Undergraduate Population 2014 Spring
Category Number Percent
Hispanic/Latino 6,036 20.5
Black or African American, non-Hispanic 3,865 13.1
White, non-Hispanic 15,683 53.2
Asian, non-Hispanic 1,654 5.6
Other 2089 7.1
TOTAL ENROLLMENT 29,481 100.0
Received need-based financial aid 14,536 49.3
Are first-generation college students 13,561 46.0
Are transfer students 14,151 48.0
Magnify UNT Need
8

Thus, research-based undergraduate educationfor all of the reasons discussed and illustrated
abovecan go a long way toward remedying such statistical imbalance.

Graduation rates further suggest the benefits of undergraduate research. Information provided by
the UNT Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness (2012) indicates that, for all first-
time, full-time freshmen enrolled at UNT in 2005, the six-year graduation rate was 48.6 percent
for all students (versus a state average of 51.7 percent and a national average of 59 percent. See
THECB 2013 Almanac, 2013; NCES IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey, 2013). While the UNT
graduation rate during those years was up from 40 percent in 2006, the underrepresented-
students rate of graduation lagged far behind the norm of Texas graduation rates by
race/ethnicity: Black or African American students had a six-year graduation rate of 35.6%;
Hispanic students had a rate of 44.7%; and White students, 64.6% (THECB, 2014).

The needs of non-conventional students further suggest the benefits of undergraduate research.
Students who received Pell Grants, who graduated high school with GEDs, were 20 years or
older when they first entered college, started as part-time students taking fewer than 12 hours, or
had SAT/ACT scores less than the national average were deemed at-risk (THECB, 2014).
Sixty-one percent of bachelors degrees awarded in 2013 to UNT students were awarded to these
at-risk students (THECB, 2014). These data suggest that many students at UNT and in the state
of Texas fail to navigate the undergraduate experience successfully and to complete their degrees
in timely fashion. Although UNT is doing a good job of working with these students, we could
do betterand in large measure through the benefits that accrue through undergraduate research
and mentorship.

Undergraduate research may also be critical to the retention and academic success of high-risk
students. Nagda, et al. (1998) argue that undergraduate research forges close student-faculty
connections, and is particularly successful in promoting retention of higher-risk students
(including some African American students, among undergraduates generally) with histories of
low achievement (see also Gregerman 1999). Wubah et al. (2000) contend, in their survey of
research programs at PUIs (primarily undergraduate institutions), that participation in
undergraduate research dramatically improves the retention of minority students. Indeed,
personal relationships with faculty members are one of the strongest predictors for academic
Magnify UNT Need
9

success generally (Hunter et al., 2009). Tinto (1975), in fact, goes so far as to suggest that
academic integration (particularly close ties between students and faculty) is one of the best
predictors of student retention. The authors of this proposal believe that such outcomes emerge
optimally through collaborative undergraduate research.

The need for undergraduate research programs at UNT find added support in the fact that many
of our freshman and transfer students are first-generation college students who frequently have
had neither the background nor opportunity to develop such research skills as critical reading,
critical thinking, and/or technical writing; nor have they been able to acquire or hone skills in
reporting and presenting research findings. Thus, whereas 28 percent non-first-generation seniors
engage in faculty-sponsored research, only 18 percent of first-generation seniors (NSSE, 2013)
do so. Moreover, Kinzie (2012) observed that first-generation and transfer-student participation
is low in such high-impact practices as undergraduate research, internships, study abroad, and
service learning. Pascarella et al. (2004) find that first-generation students have more difficulty
with second-year science reasoning, critical thinking, and overall academic success, as opposed
to non-first generation students. The authors of this QEP proposal contend that UNT should
therefore be at the forefront of creating optimal learning environments to assist in the
development of these skills to assure timely completion of undergraduate degrees and to
facilitate the entry of our students into graduate school, professional school, or the workforce.
We are mindful, moreover, that preemptive graduate fellowships, from Ph.D.-granting
universities, commonly reward undergraduates who have distinguished themselves in a research
endeavors.

Magnify UNT Plan of Operation
10

III. PLAN OF OPERATION

Because UNT has an excellent foundation for institutionalizing its undergraduate research
efforts, implementation of this QEP would allow us to build on that foundation. We thus
propose five actions.

A. Enhancing Discovery and Capstone Core Courses
Research may be process- or product-oriented (Beckman and Hensel, 2009). In process-oriented
research, students learn what scholarship is, relative to a certain discipline. Discovery classes are
part of the University Core Curriculum and, according to the UNT Undergraduate Catalog, are
designed to help students gather the tools necessary for full engagement in the undergraduate
experience. Many students at the start of their undergraduate career hear the instructor of their
Discovery course talk about scholarshipincluding subject matter, questions meriting answers,
and methods of inquiry. Discovery courses therefore provide a chance for new students to
become acquainted with the concept of scholarship and the requisite skills for such inquiry.
Discovery courses are UNTs best opportunity to introduce large numbers of students to the
creation of knowledge and the skills necessary to participate in that experience. In the current
academic year, more than 4,000 students took Discovery classes at UNT.

Such initiatives are in accord with the findings of Characteristics of Excellence in
Undergraduate Research (Rowlett et al., 2012), which suggests that undergraduate research
should be integrated into the curriculum. The Discovery requirement of the university curriculum
provides a perfect venue for students to focus on research skills. With regard to the distinction
between process and output programs, this element is primarily a process element. Freshmen and
sophomores are introduced to research techniques, and will, for the remainder of their academic
work, reap the benefits, beyond basic and advanced research skills, of enhanced writing
competency, of critical thinking skills, and of exposure to a group enterprise. All such factors
will enhance the commitment of students to complete their degree plans.

Students who take classes emphasizing process will learn how to identify, evaluate, and use
research in their discipline to solve problems in their academic courses, and later in their careers.
Students will begin to develop analytical and communication skills requisite for the generation
Magnify UNT Plan of Operation
11

and scholarly conveyance of new knowledge. They will also work in teams and develop the
capacity to work with others. We recognize that research varies among disciplines, with team
approach in some areas, and individualized experience in others. Still, we feel confident that the
skills these students garner from the QEP will be broad and useful in many situations, both
academic and non-academic.

Capstone classes as currently proposed in the University Core Curriculum according to the
University Catalog, are designed to be a culminating experience, drawing the breadth of the
students educational experience into an integrated whole, and placed within the context of the
larger society. Many Capstones will conclude with a product, i.e., tangible evidence of their
research commitment, whether that be a thesis, a poster, a film, a photographic portfolio, a paper
(for journal submission), a musical composition, or a completed experiment in materials
sciencejust to name several possibilities across disciplines. In some cases, a group or even an
entire class will undertake a project, while individual projects will doubtless be the norm,
depending on discipline-specific practice and professorial judgment.

Students who take Capstone courses use the skills developed over two or three years to make
connections among varied areas of knowledge, as related to diverse ideas and cultures. Capstone
courses also explore ethical decision-making strategies and analysis. Many Capstones conclude
with a product.

We feel these courses are vital to an effective QEP and therefore, propose the following:
UNTs leadership will put its support behind undergraduate research, including the use of
Discovery courses as the first level of engagement with students and Capstone courses as
the culmination of these potential research experiences.
UNT will take advantage of the tremendous expertise of University Librarians to develop
research modules in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. These modules will be
available to every faculty member and will be adaptable across a great variety of classes,
to be incorporated into existing Discovery and Capstone courses if the professor deems it
appropriate.
We will encourage departments to develop and adopt Discovery and Capstone courses.
At this time, only about 60 percent of departments have Discovery courses and 66
Magnify UNT Plan of Operation
12

percent have Capstone courses on their curriculum roster, leaving many departments
without such courses.
Discovery course syllabi deemed to be especially effective will be made available online
as models for the development of new Discovery courses or restructuring of existing
courses. Included in the Appendix is the syllabus for HNRS 1500: Introduction to
Research which has been offered to freshmen and sophomores in the Honors College for
more than a decade. Also included is the syllabus for UCRS 3150 (Introduction to
Research and Scholarly Activity), a course offered annually as the research base for
students accepted into the McNair Scholars Program. In this class, accomplished research
faculty and staff from varied departments make presentations to McNair Scholars about
such topics as research, ethics, critical thinking, and proposal writing.
Discovery and Capstone courses will have discussions of research opportunities
appropriate to the discipline, such as REUs and internships (NIH, Smithsonian, DSHS,
Dallas Museum of Art, and others), research funding, and research ethics.
UNT will assemble expertise from within the institution, or beyond, if necessary, to offer
practical suggestions to faculty members for the following: 1) assignments that
demonstrate research skills; 2) assignments that focus on critical thinking; and 3)
assignments that focus on communications skills, including writing and presentation
opportunities; and suggestions for assignments to demonstrate research skills and
application appropriate to the discipline. Additionally, students will be provided
opportunities for showcasing the creative processes and for active learning projects.

Helping the university implement this QEP would be research courses that are already part of the
UNT curriculumsuch as:
1) HNRS 1500 (Introduction to Research): this course was the model for the original
Discovery courses at UNT. It provides the student with the basics of researchfrom
types of research to an understanding of ethical issues. The course also requires each
student to select a topic and develop a proposal for future research (see Appendix A).
2) UCRS 3150 (Introduction to Research and Scholarly Activity): this course is offered
annually as the research base for students accepted into the McNair Scholars Program.
Accomplished research faculty and staff from varied departments make presentations to
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McNair Scholars about such topics as research, ethics, critical thinking, and proposal
writing (see Appendix A).
B. Establishment of Concept/Topic Based Research Courses
An ongoing question has been how to find enough faculty mentors to make undergraduate
research available to large numbers of students. We contend that the answer resides in the
classroom, where one talented faculty member can teach research skills to many students. We
therefore propose the establishment of concept- or topic-based research courses, illustrated
speculatively, for example, as follows:
1) Twenty English and philosophy majors take a research seminar taught by a professor of
English. Each student selects a 19
th
century American author in whose work they will
explore the concept of the best life. Every week, students have three minutes, apiece, to
inform the class of their research findings, so all can learn broadly. The remainder of the
class time is spent with lessons by the instructor. All students have to produce a major
research paper by the end of the semester. All such papers will be collected into a book to
be published digitally by University Libraries. All students in the seminar will be invited
to present their work at University Scholars Day. This course is being pilot tested as an
Honors College seminar in spring 2015 by Professor James Duban. University Libraries
will publish the papers at the end of the semester. If successful, the class will be
proposed a further prototype for the university capstone course.
2) Twenty political science, philosophy, and international-studies majors share an interest in
human rights and gather in a seminar to research global abuse of the rights of women.
Each student will select a topic from a list of abuses, including dowry deaths, honor
killings, deprivation of property rights, domestic violence, and so on. Over the course of
the semester, a week will be devoted to each topic with the researcher of that topic
presenting for a significant part of the class period. By the end of the semester, each
student will have presented in this way and will have completed a major paper that may
be presented at University Scholars Day and/or submitted for publication. The papers will
be collected into a digitally published volume.
3) Twenty computer-science and engineering majors will study how to build a drone and
program it to fly. Their professor will obtain funding from the Office of Undergraduate
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Research to purchase requisite supplies. Classroom meetings will address how to
organize the project before actual work begins on construction. The class will divide into
two or three groups to build the drone and develop the software. The semester will
culminate with a day devoted to flying the craft and seeing how well the engineering and
software work. N.B.: this was an actual project undertaken when the Honors College had
funding to allocate for departmental initiatives. Although the drone did not fly very long
and actually crashed, everyone agreed the project was a huge success, as students gained
technical knowledge and also learned how to work as a team. The head of the team went
on to win a National Science Foundation doctoral award which she is using to attend
graduate school in UNTs College of Engineering.
To summarize sections A and B, two types of course modifications are proposed:
1) Core Discovery and Capstone will be modified and/or created to meet the University
core requirements and to encourage ongoing improvement.
2) Concept/topic-based research courses would bring together students having a common
interest and a professor who shares that interest.
C. Establishment of the Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI)
This initiative will bring together departmental faculty and majors to research similar or related
topics. We propose to use a tried and true model for this action. In 2008, the Office of the
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs funded the Undergraduate Research Initiative,
which was then directed by the Honors College. Departments competed for funding, which was
$8000 per department. We stipulated that at least six undergraduate researchers and six faculty
members be involved, and that there be commonalities and/or coherence across the six projects.
Of the funds awarded, each department had to agree to spend $6,000 to pay researchers. The
amount was set at $10.00 per hour, for up to 100 hours. The remaining $2,000 had to be spent on
a common experience for all involved. The activities turned out to be ideal, including an
overnight trip for Department of English faculty and student participants to the Harry H. Ransom
Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas-Austin. Another group took a trip to the
Midwest Political Science meeting in Chicago, while others did poster presentations for their
departments. These projects were funded for three years, with outstanding results. Faculty
members and researchers were enthusiastic about the opportunity, and were disappointed when
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the initiative was discontinued. This initiative has immense value and, as demonstrated, is worth
institutionalizing.
D. Establishment of the Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (URFP)
This initiative aims to recognize and support the excellence among student researchers working
with a faculty mentor. This program would highlight and recognize UNTs best student
researchers. Students would submit summaries of their research, with a letter of support from
their major professor. A blue-ribbon committee would read all applications and decide the
recipients of awards. Each of these students would receive $2,500, along with the designation
Undergraduate Research Fellow. An additional $1,000 in travel funds would be held in reserve
for each Fellow, with the monies to be used within 18 months of completion of their semester as
a Fellow. A student could win only once. This, too, has been successfully implemented in the
Honors College, with funding from the Office of Research and Economic Development. The
initiative resulted in twenty awards of $2,500 each, with all the funding made available in one
semester.
E. Establishment of an Office of Undergraduate Research (hereafter Office)
The Office would be housed in the Office of the Provost and Vice-President for Academic
Affairs. Research would thereby be deemed an academic activity pertinent to all UNT colleges,
departments, and programs. We have consulted with the Office of Research and Economic
Development, whose vice president concurs not only in the establishment of the Office but also
in its placement in Academic Affairs. The Office of the Provost would thereby lend its
imprimatur to UNTs interest in, and implementation of, undergraduate research. The Office of
Undergraduate Research would serve as a clearinghouse for all information related to
undergraduate research, including advertisement of UNT research opportunities, searching out
and publicizing non-UNT opportunities, and helping departments to match students with faculty
mentors. The director of the Office would support undergraduate research currently in place and
facilitate new opportunities for departmental review and action. We envision the Office doing the
following:
Overseeing implementation of the provisions of the QEP proposal;
Coordinating course enhancement, as provided in this proposal;
Working with departments and professors to implement and maintain assessment and
evaluation aspects of this program;
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Identifying opportunities for faculty members and students who want training in
mentoring, IRB and IACUC procedures, and other aspects of research;
Facilitating partnerships across campus;
Working with the Office of Research and Economic Development to increase
undergraduate research opportunities;
Developing and maintaining a comprehensive undergraduate research website for UNT
students and faculty.
The director will serve as a facilitator and coordinator, while respecting undergraduate research
activities currently in place, such as, but not limited to, the Texas Academy of Mathematics and
Science, the Honors College, the McNair Scholars Program, and the Howard Hughes Medical
Program. All of these programs have well-developed reputations and, under this QEP, each of
the programs identities will be maintained. The Office will support existing programs and
activities and will implement, coordinate, or facilitate the new projects herein proposed.
Additionally, the Office will work closely with the Honors College with regard to CUR
activities, University Scholars Day, and The Eagle Feather (UNTs online journal of
undergraduate research).

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IV. BUDGET AND RESOURCES
Recognizing that funds are always limited, we will begin with a budget. Budget 1 (Table 2)
shows an ideal level of funding (although more funds would be welcome) followed by what we
call a realistic budget, Budget 2 (Table 3), the latter reflecting a more likely scenario of funding
levels. First, the ideal budget, which calls for expenditures of $1.66 million over the first five
years of the program.
Table 2. Budget 1
Category 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-2020
Personnel (no fringe incl)
Director
Admin Assistant

$75,000
$45,000

$75,000
$45,000

$75,000
$45,000

$75,000
$45,000

$75,000
$45,000
Office M&O $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
UG Research Initiative $64,000
(8/yr@$8,000 ea)
$64,000
(8/yr@$8,000 ea)
$72,000
(9/yr@$8,000 ea)
$72,000
(9/yr@$8,000 ea)
$80,000
(10/yr@$8,000 ea)
UG Research Fellows
stipends & travel funds
$45,000
(10/yr@$4,500 ea)
$45,000
(10/yr@$4,500 ea)
$90,000
(10/sem@$4,500 ea)
$90,000
(10/sem@$4,500 ea)
$90,000
(10/sem@$4,500 ea)
Course Redesign
faculty support
$20,000
(10/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(10/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(10/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(10/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(10/yr@$2,000)
TOTALS $299,000.00 $299,000.00 $352,000.00 $352,000.00 $360,000.00
GRAND TOTAL $1,662,000

UNT could have a very good campus-wide undergraduate research program with budget 2
(Table 3). Each category is realistic enough to allow for just over $1.1 million for five years.
The budget is also flexible, except for the personnel costs, which are modest.
Table 3. Budget 2
Category 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-2020
Personnel (no fringe incl)
Director
Admin Assistant

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500
Office M&O $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000
UG Research Initiative $40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
UG Research Fellows
Stipends & travel funds
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
Course Redesign
faculty support
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
ANNUAL TOTALS $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00
GRAND TOTAL $1,112,500

Our QEP proposal therefore has the advantage of utilizing current resources and adding modestly
to program expenditures. In comparison to some programs, our proposal minimizes hiring and
administrative expenses. Just two individuals, a director and an administrative assistant
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qualified current employees, more than likely, of which there are many at UNTwould be
required for the Office of Undergraduate Research. Additionally, there would be no need for a
complex new administrative structure, as the Office of Undergraduate Research would reside
entirely within the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.


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V. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION PLAN
Ongoing assessment and evaluation is vital to the program and will require expertise for the
design, implementation, and reporting of results. Formative assessments will provide
opportunities to stay abreast of the changing needs of students and to identify areas meriting
improvement. Summative evaluations will provide opportunities to create plans to enhance
undergraduate research at UNT. IRB approval will be sought for all surveys. We propose using
the following assessment and evaluation processes.
A. Bi-annual Undergraduate Research Survey (Student Report)
A campus-wide survey of all undergraduates will determine the reach of UNTs undergraduate
research opportunities. The information from this survey will provide detail not captured by the
NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) with regard to undergraduate research. This
survey will determine the number of students who participate in undergraduate research activities
and at what level. The survey will include an exhaustive list of research activities. For example,
many students may check only Was introduced to research processes in my Discovery core
class, while a much smaller number will check several items including Presented my research
at a national disciplinary conference. Such a survey would be available for approximately one
month to students once every two years (years 1, 3, and 5). Various incentives would encourage
students to respond.
Because considerable time goes into developing a good survey, we advocate UNTs using the
survey already developed by Florida State University (see Appendix B) for its undergraduate
research program. This survey is available online and is included here as an addendum.
Personnel at Florida State have made their work available via open access and permit its use,
pending proper attribution. George Mason University also developed a survey for assessing their
undergraduate-research QEP; they, too, have provided all of their materials online to persons or
institutions wishing to use those, with appropriate notation. Personnel at other universities
recognize the value of undergraduate research and are open to this kind of sharing to encourage
adjustments in the best interest of all students. Were this QEP proposal adopted, the director of
the Office of Undergraduate Research, along with personnel in UNTs Office of Institutional
Research, could work with colleagues at Florida State, George Mason, and other institutions to
use extant and effective survey tools.

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B. Annual Survey of Undergraduate Research (Faculty/Directors Report)
This survey will capture UNTs higher level undergraduate researchers by name and other
identifying information for an ongoing longitudinal study, the purpose of which is to evaluate the
effects of undergraduate research on retention and graduation, graduate school, professional
school, and career building. Once again, we have available guidance from another institution, the
University of Central Florida, and will be able to take advantage of their skill and experience.
We envision a collaborative effort undertaken by Institutional Research, the Office of
Undergraduate Research, and the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED).
Program directors and faculty (or their representatives) will annually enter data about their
undergraduate researchers. Programs such as the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science,
the Honors College, the McNair Scholars Program, the Howard Hughes Program, along with
numerous academic departments, will have an avenue for reporting the successes of their faculty
and students.




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REFERENCES
Beckman, Mary and Nancy Hensel. Making Explicit the Implicit: Defining Undergraduate
Research. Council on Undergraduate Research 29.4 (Summer 2009). Web.
Boyd, Mary K. and Jodi L. Wesemann, eds. Broadening Participation in Undergraduate
Research: Fostering Excellence and Enhancing the Impact. Council on Undergraduate
Research, 2009. Web.
<http://www.cur.org/publications/publication_listings/broadening_participation_in_under
graduate_research/>.
Crowe, Mary. Undergraduate Research. Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.
University of Utah, 2014. Web. <http://urop.utah.edu/undergraduate_research>.
Fechheimer, Marcus, Karen Webber, and Pamela B. Kleiber. How Well Do Undergraduate
Research Programs Promote Engagement and Success of Students? CBE Life Sciences
Education 10 (2011): 156-163. Web.
Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College. National Panel
Report. Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2002. Web.
<www.greaterexpectations.org>.
Gregerman, S. Improving the Academic Success of Diverse Students through Undergraduate
Research. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 20 (1999): 54-59. Web.
Hakim, Toufic Maurice. At the Interface of Scholarship and Teaching: How to Develop and
Administer Institutional Undergraduate Research Programs. Council on Undergraduate
Research, 2000. Web.
Healey, Mick, and Alan Jenkins. Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry. The Higher
Education Academy, 2009. Web.
Hunter, Mary Stuart, Barbara F. Tobolowsky, John N. Gardner, Scott E. Evenbeck, Jerry A.
Pattengale, Molly Schaller, and Laurie A. Schreiner. Helping Sophomores Succeed:
Understanding and Improving the Second Year Experience. Jossey-Bass, 2009. Web.
IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey. National Center for Education Statistics. 2013.
<http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/resource>.
Kinkead, Joyce. Whats in a Name? A Brief History of Undergraduate Research. Council on
Undergraduate Research 33.1 (Fall 2012): 20-29. Web. <www.cur.org>.
Kinzie, Jillian. High-Impact Practices: Promoting Participation for All Students. Diversity and
Democracy 15.3 (2012). Web.
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Klos, Naomi Yavneh, Jenny Olin Shanahan, and Gregory Young. 2011. Council on
Undergraduate Research. Creative Inquiry in the Arts & Humanities: Models of
Undergraduate Research.
Kuh, George D., Jillian Kinzie, Jennifer A. Buckley, Brian K. Bridges, John C. Hayek. Piecing
Together the Student Success Puzzle: Research, Propositions, and Recommendations.
ASHE Higher Education Report 32.5 (2007).
Learning through Research: Fact Sheet. Council on Undergraduate Research. 2011.
<www.cur.org/about_cur/fact_sheet>.
Lopatto, David. Undergraduate Research as a High-Impact Student Experience. Peer Review
12.2 (Spring 2010). Web.
Nagda, Biren A., Sandra R. Gregerman, John Jonides, Willian von Hippel, and Jennifer S.
Lerner. Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Partnerships Affect Student
Retention. The Review of Higher Education 22.1 (1998): 55-72. Web.
NSSE Annual Report 2013. National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Web.
<http://nsse.iub.edu/html/annual_results.cfm>.
Pascarella, Ernest T., Christopher T. Pierson, Gregory C. Wolniak, Patrick T. Terenzini. First-
Generation College Students: Additional Evidence on College Experiences and
Outcomes. The Journal of Higher Education 75.3 (May/June 2004): 249-284. Project
Muse. Web.
Regional Plan for Texas Higher Education. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
2012. Web. http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports.
Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for Americas Research Universities. The
Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. 1998. Web.
<http://www.sunysb.edu/boyerreport>.
Rowlett, Roger S., Linda Blockus, and Susan Larson. 2012. Characteristics of Excellence in
Undergraduate Research (COEUR). Ed. Nancy Hensel. The Council on Undergraduate
Research (2012): 2-19. Web.
Russell, Susan H., Mary P. Hancock, James McCullough. Benefits of Undergraduate Research
Experiences. Science 316.5824 (April 2007): 548-549. Web.
Sung, M. and S. Yang. Toward the Model of University Image: The Influence of Brand
Personality, External Prestige, and Reputation. Journal of Public Relations Research 20
(2008): 357-376.
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Texas Public Higher Education Almanac: A Profile of State and Institutional Performance and
Characteristics. 2013. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Web.
<http://www.thecb.state.tx.us>.
Texas Public Higher Education Almanac: A Profile of State and Institutional Performance and
Characteristics. 2014. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Web.
<http://www.thecb.state.tx.us>.
Tinto, Vincent. Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research.
Review of Educational Research 45.1 (Winter 1975): 89-125. Web.
Tinto, Vincent. Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1994. Print.
Wubah, D., G. Gasparich, D. Schaefer, D. Brakke, G. McDonald, and D. Downey. Retention of
Minority Students through Research. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 20
(2000): 120-126. Web.

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Appendix A - Syllabi





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HONORS 1500
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HONORS 1500

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APPENDIX B Florida State University Survey


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Appendix C Return on Investment

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Return on Investment
The budget associated with this QEP is modest, proposing to spend just over a million dollars
over five years (Table C1), excluding any funds that the Office of Undergraduate Research may
be able to bring to UNT. While the University is right to be concerned about its financial
investment in the QEP and the return on that investment, we would say that the foremost return
on investment will be the benefits to students and the institution. We say that with confidence, as
high impact practices, the most important of which is undergraduate research, have been studied
a great deal over the past two decades, and they have been found to positively affect retention
and persistence to graduation, student connections to faculty and the university, and faculty
satisfaction. They also raise the academic credentials of the institutions of which they are a part.
We have documented these effects here at UNT in the small pockets where undergraduate
research is well-established and supported. As the proposal mentions, UNT is the only major
institution in this region without such a program, and it is, therefore, long overdue.
All that having been said, however, we can also demonstrate that the financial return on the
investment proposed in this QEP is sound and will have a positive financial impact on UNT. We
propose the following budget, which supports all aspects of our QEP proposal. Moreover, each
category is flexible, except for personnel costs, which are modest.

Table C1. Undergraduate Research Initiative Proposed Budget
Category 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-2020
Personnel (no fringe
incl)
Director
Admin Assistant

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500

$65,000
$37,500
Office M&O $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000
UG Research Initiative $40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
$40,000
(5/yr@$8,000 ea)
UG Research Fellows
Stipends & travel funds
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
$25,000
(10/yr@$2,500 ea)
Course Redesign
Faculty support
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
$20,000
(5/yr@$2,000)
ANNUAL TOTALS $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00 $222,500.00
GRAND TOTAL $1,112,500.00

.
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Our QEP therefore has the advantage of utilizing current resources and adding modestly to
program expenditures. In comparison to some programs, our proposal minimizes hiring and
administrative expenses. Just two individuals, a director and an administrative assistant
qualified current employees, more than likely, of which there are many at UNTwould be
required for the Office of Undergraduate Research. Additionally, there would be no need for a
complex new administrative structure, as the Office of Undergraduate Research would reside
entirely within the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Lets consider our proposal in terms of its effects on retention/attrition. If the proposed initiatives
are able to decrease attrition by 0.5% annually, the assumed revenue is $27,500 per year for a net
amount of $137,500 gained over a five year period (Table C2 and Figure C1). These
calculations are based on information from Collegemeasures.org Cost of Attrition Scenario
Analysis (Figure C2). For 2012, the cost of attrition is $500,000 per 1% decrease in retention rate
(FTIC freshman to sophomore).

Table C2. Cumulative Expenditures and Revenue (1% Attrition = $500,000/Year)

Year Undergraduate Research Initiative
Expenditures
If 0.5% Retention Revenue Net Revenue
Year 1
$ 222,500.00 $ 250,000.00 $ 27,500.00
Year 2
$ 445,000.00 $ 500,000.00 $ 55,000.00
Year 3
$ 667,500.00 $ 750,000.00 $ 82,500.00
Year 4
$ 890,000.00 $ 1,000,000.00 $ 110,000.00
Year 5
$ 1,112,500.00 $ 1,250,000.00 $ 137,500.00
Figure C1. Annual Cumulative Expenditures and Revenue
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Figure C2. Collegemeasures.org Cost of Attrition Scenario Analysis