Connecticut College, just like other small, liberal arts colleges, takes the number of opportunities that it provides for undergraduate level research with faculty as a point of pride. These opportunities aim at facilitating a close level of collaboration between the faculty and students. Through these, students gain valuable experience that opens up a wide range of avenues for their future. However, “student research” may appear to be rather vague and unfamiliar to the outside observer. This is especially the case for research in the arts and humanities, where traditional notions of “legitimate research” are challenged. I was interested to learn what exactly the term “student research” is used to refer to.
To find out more, I visited Deborah Dreher, Associate Dean for Fellowships & Scholarships. She emphasized that there are “different kinds of opportunities” in the disciplines, given that in the natural sciences research is “continuous” and “intensive.” In the arts and humanities in particular, the prevailing popular, rather more orthodox conception of research as being something conducted in a laboratory with copious quantities of data does not suffice. As an example, she referred to the performing arts where questions have always arisen about what can be considered “legitimate research”. She noted that the display and practice of the art is considered by some scholars in the field as being within the purview of research, something that “not most creative arts students think of”. To discover students’ perspective on their research, I reached out via email to Sal Bigay’16, who received the opportunity to do research in art over the summer before his junior year. His research internship appeared in line with the more orthodox notions of research although he conducted it off-campus, beyond the walls of Connecticut College. He said “I interned with alumna Kate Gilbert ‘96, who is a visual artist and curator located in Boston, MA. Kate focuses on the development of public art within the Boston community, and works very closely with artists and art enthusiasts of Boston. Through her connections, I was able to talk with many important public-art related people in Boston. I conducted surveys of three public art projects, and had many productive conversations about the development of public art in Boston.” He was funded by the Mellon Undergraduate Research Program (MURP). To qualify for this research grant, students need to take a research seminar in their sophomore year. Bigay took his sophomore research seminar with Professor Leo Garofalo of the History department.
I reached out to Professor Garofalo to get a faculty angle on the issue. He noted with great enthusiasm the several grants offered by the Mellon Foundation that offer “wonderful opportunities for research by students” and the promise that students have shown for their capacity to engage in research. He said “As CCSRE Director, I have read dozens of excellent student research proposals from all disciplines over the last three years. These projects ranged from local, to US home communities, to overseas research sites. The best developed in dialogue with faculty advisers and community partners, responding to the latter’s needs and desires to see research unfold in conversation with professors.” His hope is for the college to understand the importance of these research opportunities, so that in the future, possibly all students could participate in sophomore research seminars. Professor Garofalo visualizes the future of the college as “a community of researchers”, as a consequence of a vast expansion of student research.
The influence of contemporary neoliberalism with its emphasis on private accumulation over public benefit is leaving its mark on education as well. Education is increasingly being seen as a means to an end. The end is newer and better products for the market, and more financial gain for students competing for their place in the competitive labor market. A question that has long concerned me is how market driven demand now influences the types of research that students can undertake. Research in the natural sciences is especially useful from the point of view of industry in our market driven world with its aim to develop new products and technologies. That leaves the social sciences, arts and humanities, with their emphases on the collective over the individual, in a rather precarious position in our neoliberal world. I posed a question to Dean Dreher about how market demand influences the kind and the level of research being conducted by students. She did concede that my impression was correct for the external world outside of Connecticut College that put students in the natural sciences in a more favorable position. These trends especially influence the degree of competition and types of opportunities that students who engaged in research while at Conn, would have to face after graduating from Conn. However, she emphasized that Connecticut College had the resources and remained committed to maintaining and even expanding existing student research opportunities in the social sciences, arts and humanities. Further, those students who make use of available research grants at Connecticut College are put at a distinct advantage when competing for market driven options in the external world, post-graduation.
My hope is that students from Connecticut College engaging in research in the social sciences, arts and humanities use their privilege of studying in an elite liberal arts institution and some of their relative advantage in the market to reverse the very market driven trends that are forcing individuals in society to ignore concern for the collective. Our work can change the world. •
