Do you want your students to write better, indeed well enough to win prizes at conferences? If so, read on.

Undergraduate research is gaining more and more attention among educators in colleges and universities. Once largely the province of the sciences, now all disciplines are being encouraged to participate in this form of experiential learning. The success of the two previous COURHC conferences demonstrates continued interest in this topic within history departments. Indeed, the National Consortium on Undergraduate Research in History developed from the February 2006 meeting.

In the Department of History and Geography at the University of Central Oklahoma, faculty members have adopted policies which have led to considerable success for students passing through our program. As UCO is a regional institution with generous open door admission and transfer policies, the model used in this department is broadly applicable to a department with an average student population, not one that would succeed only with students who arrive in college with high ACT or SAT scores, or with well-developed research and writing skills.

The colloquium is a working conference of roughly a dozen faculty members from around the nation who come to learn and to share, with the purpose of returning to their home institutions better equipped to produce courses or a program that encourages significant undergraduate research.

Each applicant is required to submit a short statement detailing what his/her department is currently accomplishing in terms of undergraduate research, what goals the department has set for this concept, and what barriers limit the department’s ability to meet its goals. Successful applicants will be notified of their acceptance on or about 25 January 2007. Late applications will be accepted if places remain available.

Participants must arrive in Oklahoma City/Edmond by 4pm on 23 February 2007 and sessions will begin at 6pm. If you are looking for a conference to attend based on a light schedule and pretty surroundings, choose another one: we are here to work. That is why the conference is being held from Friday through Sunday noon: only those people willing to give of their own time to attend this colloquium are likely to have the drive and determination to do the work to make a first-rate undergraduate research program a reality at their home institution.

If you are interested you can register by sending an email with the subject line “Application for COURHC” and answer the following three questions:

What is your department currently doing with undergraduate research?
What would you like to be doing?
What issues/structures prevent you from accomplishing your goals?

More information is available at www.ncurh.com/courhc.html