Changes in student research experiences in liberal arts colleges: Challenges and opportunities for faculty

Background/Question/Methods A 1985 study noted the disproportionate contribution “elite” small liberal arts colleges (LAC) make to science PhDs in the U.S. The independent undergraduate research (IUR) experience is cited by science PhDs as the most important and memorable part of their LAC college education, and the most relevant in terms of choosing future employment. Although often asserted, the values of IUR have been studied only recently. Major changes in ecology graduate experiences, research processes (e.g. “Big Ecology”), and educational experiences (increased reliance by university faculty on graduate and post-doc contributions to their own research), make it possible to go on the job market unprepared and perhaps unsuited to establish and maintain an independent research program. The number of permanent academic positions has not kept pace with the number of PhDs produced. Faculty research expectations at many LAC have intensified, as have the number of students doing IUR. These developments may cause conflict between the best interests of students and faculty. Are IUR projects truly independent? The temptation for faculty is to involve students midstream, beginning with data collection and analysis, but providing fewer students the “front end” experiences necessary to function independently, or even detrmine the right career direction. LAC faculty may be reluctant to mentor student-originated projects, or to send them off campus to university programs. I updated information for the colleges studied in 1985 using NSF data from the most recent 10 years, added Life Science PhDs as a variable (problematic for ecologists in pre-med dominated programs), and used data available on the Web to try to discern trends in ecology IUR at individual colleges. The best test of the production of successful independent researchers is establishment in a permanent academic or research job, which I will continue to study.

Results/Conclusions LAC continue to contribute a disproportionate number of science PhD. IUR experiences appear to be less independent but continue to provide close, often collegial, relationships with faculty mentors. Although science-active faculty have increased, so has student participation, increasing faculty mentoring loads. Compensating mentors with release time may make it difficult for students to find good matches with compatible faculty. It is apparent that not all results of recent studies apply across colleges. There seems to be universal agreement that IURs are beneficial for students and valued by most faculty, but inadequately and perhaps counter-productively rewarded.