Why is undergraduate research, creative activity, and scholarship important?

The intellectual success of a university is enhanced by understanding that inquiry, investigation, and discovery is paramount, whether in funded research projects, undergraduate classrooms, or graduate assistantships. Everyone at a university should have the opportunity to be an innovator, a discoverer, a researcher.

Research, creativity, and scholarship enhance students’ abilities and skills in higher education and in life.

• Students learn to take responsibility for their own learning, and understand that they have the skills to learn in any situation.

• Students develop their own perspective and voice, and learn how to construct an argument based on their own exploration of a topic.

• Students become more proficient at distinguishing evidence-based information from subjective information.

• Students build tolerance for obstacles faced in the research process.

• Students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

• Students develop self-confidence.

• Students improve oral and written communication skills.

• Students develop the ability to ask researchable questions, explore possible solutions, and use evidence as they analyze the results of their work.