Dean's Page

If you are a regular reader of Cascade, you are accustomed to seeing my column at the beginning of each issue, rather than here at the very end. But it was only fitting to give over my usual dean’s page slot to the voice of a recent graduate to introduce this special edition dedicated to undergraduate research.

As the preceding pages reveal, undergraduates across the disciplines are stepping up to take advantage of the rich research opportunities in the UO College of Arts and Sciences. Just to summarize all that has been made abundantly clear: across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, students are actively pursuing their own research endeavors—forming appropriate questions, learning methodological tools, reading everything they can about a topic, developing rigorous work habits, facing unexpected results, changing their thinking about a problem, being open to suggestions, remaining nimble, working in collaboration with others and persevering to the end.

These are the fundamental keys to research success—and to success in life as well.

Undergraduates gain these opportunities here at the UO because of our dedicated faculty. As dean of the College of Arts and Sciences I have the privilege of working with more than 500 faculty members who are passionate about their research—and about teaching. These scholars and scientists are literally changing the world as they create new knowledge within their disciplines and through interdisciplinary collaboration. The results of their efforts are truly inspiring.

Because of the research accomplishments of our faculty, the University of Oregon has long been a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the most elite group of sixty-two public and private research universities in North America. In addition, because of the high research productivity of our faculty, the University of Oregon is classified in the top category of research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. We regularly feature the exciting work of our faculty researchers in every issue of Cascade.

But these respected researchers are not sealed away in their labs or ivory towers—they are accessible and welcoming to students. The history, size, location and values of our institution underscore our special commitment to sharing the research mission with our undergraduates. UO faculty members love their research and, as the articles in this special issue of Cascade attest, they are also committed to training the next generation of researchers—instilling the quest for discovery while creating countless opportunities for students to learn about the research process.

I am proud to say we have some of the best teachers in higher education. In response to their efforts to innovate in (and beyond) the classroom, we have created various institutional supports make undergraduate research a meaningful reality. Our goal is to help our students understand the challenges and rewards of research within a wide range of disciplines, and this special issue illustrates how far we have advanced along that curve.

The stories in this issue describe only a few examples of undergraduate research at the UO, but we hope they give you a sense of the excitement that we feel about including students in knowledge production. As our mission statement states, we strive to teach students to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively and live ethically. There is no better way to achieve these objectives than to actively engage students in the research enterprise.

Scott Coltrane, Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences