The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE – For the fourth year in a row, Western Carolina University students rank among the nation’s leaders in the number of research projects accepted for presentation at the country’s most prestigious undergraduate research conference.

Forty-seven WCU students had their project abstracts accepted by the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, an annual springtime gathering where students from across the nation present their best research. WCU is tied with another university in having the fifth-highest total of accepted abstracts among the 308 colleges and universities that will be participating in this year’s conference, which will be held April 16-18 at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.

WCU students have ranked in the top 10 at the conference for four consecutive years, and the students from Cullowhee continue to lead all University of North Carolina institutions with their participation, said Brian Railsback, dean of WCU’s Honors College. The college oversees WCU’s NCUR involvement each year.

“We continue to shine at undergraduate research events like NCUR because our faculty members take mentoring undergraduate research very seriously,” Railsback said. “As a faculty member in health sciences told me the other day, undergraduate research has become an important part of the culture at WCU.”

Railsback said other factors that contribute are the Honors College’s Undergraduate Academic Projects Grant Program, WCU’s Undergraduate Expo research exhibition held each March, and the Honors College magazine, Imagine, which focuses on undergraduate research, creative work and service.

Undergraduate research also is an important component of WCU’s Quality Enhancement Plan, a comprehensive plan to improve student learning developed by the university as part of the process of gaining re-accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Railsback said.

The WCU contingent will be traveling by bus to the April conference, and aside from the cost of meals, the trip is provided free to the students. At the conference, the students will present their research in front of students and college faculty members from across the nation.

For more information about undergraduate research at WCU, contact Railsback at (828) 227-7383.

Tags: Cullowhee, honors college, undergraduate research conference, Western Carolina University

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