Collaborative Undergraduate Research Program
Berea College students in all disciplines can take advantage of a number of on- and off-campus opportunities to engage in a mentor-apprentice summer undergraduate research experience. Funding is available through Berea’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects Program (URCPP) or by external sources (e.g., the Appalachian College Association, etc.).
The goals of the Berea-funded URCPP, similar to research projects funded from other resources, include:
- to enhance student learning by providing opportunities for the engagement of challenging, collaborative, and directed projects in an apprentice-mentor relationship with faculty;
- to foster student-faculty interaction in creative work;
- to help students understand the critical interplay between collaboration and independent thought and action in any team effort to engage a complex, open-ended project;
- to enhance students’ communication skills;
- to provide experience that would be helpful to students who wish to pursue subsequent research and learning/ creative opportunities (e.g., off-campus, summer research programs, or international learning opportunities);
- to allow students to build their self-confidence to pursue careers and further study beyond Berea; and
- to supply experience that will help students make informed career and graduate school decisions. For information on how to meet the Active Learning Experience (ALE) requirement using a summer undergraduate experience, see Opportunities Common to all Fields of Study.