Center for Creative Inquiry Summer Institute

For the past four years, the Center for Creative Inquiry has offered a week-long summer institute for faculty.

The Center for Creative Inquiry Summer Institute runs this year June 4-8, 2018, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday, in the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College.

The Center for Creative Inquiry Summer Institute is for faculty at Keene State College who are interested in developing assignments or research projects, designing courses, and/or redesigning their curriculum to focus on undergraduate research opportunities. Undergraduate research and creative endeavors (URCE), in a wide variety of forms and across disciplines, have been recognized as a key high-impact practice in liberal arts education. These high-impact practices have been shown to have a positive correlation to student GPA, retention (especially of first and second year students, higher achieving students, and minority students), overall satisfaction with the undergraduate experience, and continuation to graduation. Beyond the undergraduate experience, these practices have been shown to have a positive influence on students’ intentions to pursue graduate education and to encourage them to give careful consideration to future employment as an extension of their undergraduate experiences.

Throughout the week of the institute, faculty work together and with the institute facilitators to develop specific ideas about how URCE can be more fully incorporated into the curriculum of the programs in which they teach. Each discipline has its own understanding of what URCE looks like in that field, and each program has its own culture around the ways that students and faculty work together most productively. The programs offered in this institute aim to respect those differences and present faculty with a range of tools and possibilities that best suits them and their work.

Expectations: Faculty participants will be given reading material prior to the institute (on models of undergraduate research, its role in effective pedagogical practices, etc.), which will provide a starting point for discussions at the beginning of the week. There may be brief readings during the week as well. Each faculty attendee will also be responsible for two presentations during the week. First, early in the week, each participant should be prepared to make a presentation to the group about their interests, current work, and expectations for the week. Second, toward the end of the week, each participant will present to the group again, this time to summarize the progress they have made during the week and hopes/expectations for future development.

Faculty who attend the institute receive a stipend for the week of work ($800), with an additional stipend to attend a follow-up meeting during the fall semester ($200).

How to apply and deadline

A call for applications is announced via a campus-wide e-mail in February or March of each academic year.

This year, interested faculty should apply by sending a Word document application to CCI@keene.edu by March 23, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. In about 800-1,000 words, the application should include the following:

• Prior experience you have had with undergraduate research (including any conferences or workshops you have attended, e.g., conferences by the Council on Undergraduate Research) OR what interest you may have in undergraduate research.
• Specific interests you have and topics you would like to explore during the institute, as well as any specific goals you have for the week.

For more information, contact Nick Germana, Center for Creative Inquiry Coordinator (ngermana@keene.edu).