Happy Friday! Could this be the most eventful Week in UR of the current academic year? Let me load that question into Oxford Abstracts and let you, good Council members, render your decision, just to overcomplicate things. But I’d bet a ha’penny that you’d agree…
This week saw the launch of the TSC Undergraduate Research Fellowship, what is surely the first research fellowship program at any community college anywhere in the country. Like ever. That is really something to celebrate, and we should be eternally grateful to the Research Mentoring Committee, with J.T. at its helm, for conceiving of this brilliant idea. Now the challenge is to get those applications in and get that money out the door, fast. We’ve got two weeks to do it, folks. The application deadline is Friday, January 31. So let’s talk this up in our departmental meetings, networks, newsletters, emails, whatever. Ring a bell and play town crier if you’re so inclined. I, for one, am dusting off my tricorne as I type! Most of all, share the following link to the very smart webpage that we’ve now got for this program at:
While you’re at it, why not do some cryin’ about the UR Symposium abstract submission deadline? Lest we be a cryin’ come February 13. With just over three weeks remaining, the current count of submitted abstracts stands at 7. That’s not unusual this far out, to be sure, but I’ve always thought that a big public relations push at this point in the process is key to driving the submission count up. Now is also a good time for doing some person-to-person promotions, talking one-on-one with colleagues and individual students about the symposium and the valuable opportunity that it represents. That’s probably the most effective outreach we can do. And let’s keep driving traffic to our website, which seems to grow more polished and comprehensive with each passing day: www.tsc.fl.edu/research
And while you’re standing in
someone’s office doorway prattling on about the fellowship and the symposium, whilst
they pointedly eye that pile of ungraded papers teetering precariously atop the
corner of their desk, why not squander a little more of their precious time and
goodwill by hitting them up to serve as both moderators and adjudicators?
We won’t know until we know, of course, but who knows? We might be swimming in
student projects just yet, and then we’ll need all the help we can get. I’d
like to get ahead of that before we get too close to the event. Volunteering is
easy to do. Just forward them the link to the appropriate Microsoft Form (one
of many!). Here’s that link again:
https://forms.office.com/r/KK0ZHpXL38
Need something else to nag your coworkers about? Well, we’ve got you covered! The Public Relations and Workshops Committee, ably led by our own Sam DeZerga, is hosting not one, not two…not even five or six, but SEVEN (count them, 7) student workshops in the coming weeks, on topics ranging from writing an abstract to creating a research poster. The first workshop of the spring semester will be a general information session about the symposium, to be held this coming Tuesday, January 21, from 2:00 to 3:00. Complete details are on our homepage, which I’m beginning to think might make a smart neck tattoo: www.tsc.fl.edu/research.
And if you really want to fill
your colleagues with murderous rage, set a while longer and remind them that
there’s still time (well, just a little) to register for the faculty lunch and
learn event on Wednesday, from 2:30-3:30. Although registration technically
goes through the weekend, we really should get those final registration in by
today. Here’s that registration link one last time:
https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0002-0030-3c73b7876a8945b4bec28a48adac9188
We got so busy during our meeting Tuesday that FURC didn’t even warrant a mention. But there is a little news to share. We’ve got seven students going, from all different disciplines, and they’ve all now received their acceptance notifications from USF, the conference host. Once again, the College is footing the bill for everything, and just about all those bills have been settled up. Here, too, J.T. deserves the credit for doing much of the organizational work. I’m just sending out emails and making up the darn cutest Excel spreadsheets you ever did see. It’s going to be a big conference this year, with nearly 1,000 student presenters expected, the largest FURC ever. It’s a big FURC-ing deal! So that’s exciting. Here’s that URL again in case anyone wants to have a look:
https://www.usf.edu/research-innovation/student-engagement/furc.aspx
And with all of that said, I’ll close on a serious note, for once. I wish you all the loveliest of long weekends, coming as it does at the end of what is always a hectic start to the spring semester. For my own part, I’ll be taking a little time this weekend to reflect on the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and what his example has meant in my own life, and how I’ve seen it at work of late. As some of you know, I’m a proud alumnus of Georgia State University, which includes the community college system that serves metropolitan Atlanta. Among the many things that I love about GSU is its long commitment to experiential learning, including service learning and undergraduate research, from which I benefitted greatly as a student. GSU’s main campus happens to be just a few short blocks from the birthplace, and now final resting place, of Dr. King. On occasion, inspired by my service learning experiences at GSU, I would take the short walk down to the King Memorial between my classes and sit and reflect a while on Dr. King’s life of selfless service. Often my thoughts would turn to my professors and how much their own legacy of service meant to me, as a struggling, impoverished college student, who also struggled academically. It’s what set me on the path to becoming a professor myself, and I’ve often tried to emulate them, as best I could.
But this weekend, what I will be reflecting on is this group of faculty, staff, and administrators that has worked so hard to build the Undergraduate Research Program at TSC. With no tangible incentive to do so, and precious little recognition, this group has built programming that offers TSC students myriad opportunities to present and publish their research, now extending beyond TSC’s campus, and even to have their research financially supported. What we have put into place, in a very short time, is nothing short of remarkable. Most importantly, it sends a strong message to our students that their work, their intellectual labors, are valued and respected. It tells them that they belong in the academy. It is so easy to discount the work that we are doing. But I see myself in so many of our students, as I know many of you do, as well. For me, that experience of having my imperfect work taken seriously, and celebrated, was vitally important. It’s probably what kept me in college. I know that what we have built here is every bit as meaningful to scores of TSC students. Regardless of whether submissions go up or go down, or whatever might succeed or go awry, we should all feel deep pride for engaging in this act of selfless service for our students. I feel certain Dr. King would be very proud of us.
Have a great weekend, everyone,
Dan
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