Undergraduate Research

    Joyce Kinkead

    Associate Vice President for Research & Professor of English
    joyce.kinkead@usu.edu
    435-797-1706 (office)
    435-797-1367 (fax)
    http://research.usu.edu/undergrad

Background & Philosophy

USU is strongly committed to promoting opportunities for students to work with scholars engaged in research. By research, we mean not only laboratory science but also scholarship and creative activity. Any student in any discipline may engage in research. Why do we believe research is so important to a student's intellectual development and growth?

Working on research projects helps students develop skills in problem-solving, communication, team work, and technology. And students become adept at the methods of inquiry in their own disciplines. The Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) Grant program–funded by the Vice President for Research Office--supports students' independent research.

Students who complete research projects have opportunities to present their work at the annual on-campus Student Showcase, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research, the state and national "Posters on the Hill," and at professional meetings. Some of USU’s students' projects are published in professional journals. Scholarly work of this caliber positions students well for employment, further professional education, and graduate school.

In my own work as a Professor of English, I've encouraged students to engage in research projects that will result in publishable products. Over a dozen undergraduate students working with me have had their work published in national periodicals. I'm particularly proud of the interdisciplinary research project that teamed interior design and English majors to design an "ideal writing center" where space actually encourages learning.

At Utah State University, we celebrate and promote undergraduate student achievement. I am proud to be part of those efforts.

Bio-Sketch

Dr. Joyce Kinkead was appointed Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research in 2001, a role that combined her interest in academics and research and built on her appointment as Associate Vice President for Research. In 2006, she returned full time to the Research Office to work with student researchers and begin fund-raising to endow undergraduate research programs. In her roles as Acting Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, she developed a number of programs over her ten-year tenure in the college: Rhetoric Associates, Undergraduate Teaching Fellows, Faculty Development in Teaching, Research, and Outreach. She has also served as acting director of the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, director of the Writing Program and the Writing Center. In 1999-2000, she was an American Council on Education Fellow with an appointment at the University of California-Davis and Keimyung University in Taegu, South Korea. Her international work includes being a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Stockholm (1987) and for the Ministry of Education in Cyprus (1996); in addition, she has consulted with Ministry of Education in Trinidad & Tobago.

She is the author or editor of a number of books: A Schoolmarm All My Life: Personal Narratives from Frontier Utah; Houghton-Mifflin English (4 volumes); Writing Centers in Context; Literary Utah: A Bibliographic Guide; Collaborative Writing: Essays in Process; Valuing and Supporting Undergraduate Research; The Center Will Hold. With Jeanette Harris, she edited The Writing Center Journal for six years, and she is a founding board member of the National Writing Centers Association.  Her work on undergraduate research includes the following: "How Writing Programs Support Undergraduate Research" in Karukstis, Kerry, and Tim Elgren, ed. 2007 Developing and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Curriculum. (Washington, DC: Council on Undergraduate Research); “A Successful Model of Undergraduate Research” in Developing, Promoting, & Sustaining the Undergraduate Research Experience in Psychology. Ed. Richard L. Miller and Robert F. Rycek, (Society for the Teaching of Psychology); and a work in progress with Laurie Grobman, Undergraduate Research in/and English Studies.

Dr. Kinkead has received outstanding scholarship awards for her work in Computer and Composition Studies (1996) and writing centers (1989). The Utah Humanities Council honored her with the Colton Fellowship for her schoolmarm research and honored her with an Award of Merit for the Literary Utah project. USU awards include "Top Prof" Outstanding Faculty Member, Humanist of the Year, and ASUSU Faculty Service. The Undergraduate Research Program received the Robins Achievement Award in 2007. Kinkead initiated both the Research on Capitol Hill event that features USU and the University of Utah researchers as well as the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research.  She is a Councilor on the Council of Undergraduate Research.

Click here to view Dr. Kinkead's CUR 2008 presentation on Undergraduate Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Business.

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