Research confirms that academic performance increases considerably when faculty mentor undergraduate students. This relationship maximize the student’s ability to engage in quality, independent, and rigorous research. Mentoring includes 1) guiding the student in selecting, developing, and refining a research or creative project, 2) teaching the student discipline-specific research skills, and 3) enabling the student to become an independent and creative thinker.

The Office of Engaged Learning fosters the cultivation of mentoring relationships as a point of emphasis in developing undergraduate research activity across campus.