Guidelines for working with student researchers

1. At the beginning of the quarter, the undergraduate will complete a learning contract with the faculty member that describes the research duties and the faculty’s role in mentoring them. This contract must be submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Research.

2. The faculty member is the primary supervisor of the undergraduate assistant and will assign their grades at the end of the quarter.

3. All undergraduates must participate for course credit. They cannot participate on a volunteer basis. This provides a structure that encourages accountability to the learning contract on the part of both faculty and student. Alumni can volunteer; however, alumni must complete the SPU alumnus volunteer form and return a copy to the Director of Undergraduate Research.

4. Faculty needs for research assistants will have higher priority than graduate student projects. Once faculty needs have been met, graduate students will be allowed to work with undergraduate assistants on their projects.

5. Undergraduate faculty will have higher priority than graduate psychology or MFT faculty in working with undergraduate assistants. As the education of undergraduates is the primary responsibility of undergraduate faculty, they will receive priority in working with the undergraduates on research projects.

6. Graduate students should have their supervising faculty member contact the Director of Undergraduate Research (Dr. Brown ) with their undergraduate assistance requests. Graduate students should not send requests directly. The supervising faculty is thus kept apprised of all undergraduate-related issues in their graduate students’ research.

7. The Director of Undergraduate Research will contact faculty each quarter to ascertain their research assistance needs, and will coordinate the recruitment of undergraduates each quarter. He will keep records of all undergraduates participating in research, and will enter the grades that the faculty supervisors provide at the end of the quarter. Any issues regarding undergraduates in research should be brought to him.