Research

CLA Summer Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity Program (SURP)

The CLA SURP is designed to support faculty research and creative activities while engaging undergraduate students in faculty-led scholarship.

All faculty in the CLA (tenure-line and lecturer) and all students who are CLA majors and/or minors may apply.
 
The CLA SURP has four primary goals:
  1. Promote diverse and equitable engagement for CLA students in faculty-led research and creative activities.
  2. Enhance faculty participation in scholarship.
  3. Build lasting student-faculty mentoring relationships.
  4. Enrich a culture of scholarship in the CLA

 

2025 SURP Dates

  • CLA SURP Mentor Project Proposals: 
    • Open: 1/10/25
    • Application deadline: 3/18/25
  • CLA SURP Student Applications
    • Open: 4/4/25
    • Application deadline: 4/17/25
    • Notification by: 5/5/25

For Mentors 

  • The application to serve as a SURP Faculty Mentor in Summer 2025 is due Friday, March 18, 2025.
  • Faculty in all disciplines are encouraged to apply to serve as a research mentor in the CLA Summer Undergraduate Research/Creative Activities Program. 
  • This program is open to all lecturer and tenure-line faculty in the CLA. Professional staff may serve as a co-mentor.
  • Individuals who have previously served as SURP mentors, including in Summer 2024, are encouraged to apply to serve as mentors in Summer 2025. 

For Students

The student application for the 2025 College of Liberal Arts Student Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity Program (CLA SURP) 

The application is due on Thursday, April 17, 2025 

CLA SURP Projects for Summer 2025

  • You will have the opportunity to explore the available projects to which students can apply. Projects will be posted by 4/5/25.
  • Remember that you can apply to projects in departments across the college, as long as you meet the required qualifications listed. 
  • When applying, students must specify to which position(s) they are applying.
  • Students can apply for up to three positions at the same time.
  • Selected CLA SURP students will receive a financial award of $3,500 to support their engagement and participation in this opportunity. This will be processed through Financial Aid. Please note that this is a fellowship, not employment, and is undocufriendly. 
  • The $3,500 financial award is designed to enable students to participate in faculty-led scholarship and mentoring activities for 8 weeks in Summer 2025 for approximately 20 hours per week. These weeks may be non-contiguous. This engagement may occur in-person, virtually, or hybrid as required by the project. Depending on the project, an alternative but equivalent timeline may be utilized. 

More about Applying!

Many of the mentors listed may have time to email/meet with you prior to the application deadline to further discuss their projects. You are encouraged to ask if the mentors listed have this capacity and to meet with them, if so! This might be in office hours or by appointment.

Each application will contain the following sections (each with a maximum of 500 words). 

Directions about these different sections are provided as part of the application.

  1. Personal Statement (general; applies to all projects to which you are applying)
  2. Benefits Statement (general; applies to all projects to which you are applying)
  3. Project-specific Interest Statement (submit one for each project to which you are applying)
  4. Project-specific Preparation Statement (submit one for each project to which you are applying)

(You are encouraged to develop and your answers in a word processing software and then paste them into the application just in case your browser crashes while you are working on your application.)

 


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