The Lobo Letter

My purpose in this Lobo Letter is to encourage undergraduates to engage in independent scholarly projects before they graduate with BA or BS degrees from UNM.

The number of semester hours UNM requires for a baccalaureate degree varies somewhat with the major. It must now be at least 128 semester hours, although there is a proposal under consideration to lower that minimum to 120. As most students know, they must complete the “core curriculum” of about 37 hours, and then fulfill major and minor requirements for their degrees (except for the BUS degree, which can be constructed differently with adviser approval).

In most programs, there is room for some credit-bearing individual scholarly work, usually for juniors or seniors. These courses go by various names, such as “Readings,” “Undergraduate Problems” or “Undergraduate Research,” depending on the department. But they all constitute a special topic of individual study carried out by a student working one-on-one with a faculty member who offers advice and oversight.

In the sciences and engineering these often involve laboratory research, working alongside graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. It is not unusual for the student to make a significant discovery and then report this as a co-author of a paper in a scientific journal.

In the humanities and social sciences, the undergraduate scholarly work might well require careful advanced reading and analysis of a special topic resulting in a senior thesis. In the Fine Arts, the parallel projects could result in a senior show or recital.

Service Learning projects or work in Sustainability Studies offer parallel scholarly experiences.

Regardless of the field of study, these projects can lead to graduation with honors, either from the department or through the Honors College.

In some cases this individual work can also be accomplished in a formalized program where a stipend is offered. These include the McNair Program, the Research Opportunity Program, the STEM Research Programs and others. Students can look at uresearch.unm.edu for more information.

If a faculty member has research funding from a national source, such as the National Science Foundation, the grant may include funds to pay undergraduates to carry out research during the summers. It is sometimes possible to work in a laboratory for undergraduate credit toward a degree during the academic year, and then continue the project for pay during the summer.

These individual experiences, guided by a faculty member, are extremely valuable parts of the intellectual growth that a college education provides. Many faculty members join me in encouraging every undergraduate student to seek out these opportunities as part of their baccalaureate programs.

Richard Holder
President of the Faculty Senate