Research-Informed Practice, Practice-Informed Research: The Integral Role of Undergraduate Research in Professional Disciplines at BSU

Students majoring in professional disciplines such as business, education, and social work are notably underrepresented in most universities’ undergraduate research (UR) programs—both because of the lack of appropriate models of UR in professional schools and definitions of “research” that inadvertently leave out what scholars in professional disciplines do. However, BSU’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Departments of Communication Disorders & Special Education, Elementary & Early Childhood Education, Business Management, and Social Work have successfully employed several strategies for including faculty and students from professional disciplines in the university’s whole range of UR opportunities, from ATP summer and semester grant-funded projects, to honors theses, community-based research, UR abroad, and research presentations at national conferences and BSU campus symposia. This panel roundtable shares specific strategies for building research opportunities for students in pre-professional programs and other disciplines, especially by creating research-rich, scaffolded curricula