Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2018

Publication Title

Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research

Abstract

For 50 years, Smith College’s Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) has provided undergraduate women scientists the opportunity for an immersive experience to conduct independent research under the mentorship of science faculty and staff. This article highlights summative assessment data on SURF program outcomes as well as the institutional planning and responses that followed from careful consideration of SURF’s success and challenges. SURF participation was associated with a full range of student benefits, including a higher overall college gradepoint average, greater advanced research participation, and increased likelihood of completing an advanced degree. Evidence of these powerful and lasting student impacts associated with the SURF program was integral to divisional strategic planning within the sciences and helped propel curricular innovation broadly, creating faculty and institutional investments in a broad range of cuttingedge pedagogical approaches that are student-centered and inquiry-driven.

Keywords

institutional change, scientific research, strategic planning, summer research programs, undergraduate research, women in science

Volume

2

Issue

2

First Page

55

Last Page

63

DOI

10.18833/spur/2/2/4

Comments

Archived as published.

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