Making Science Education Count: Tenure Reform and Undergraduate Biology Research

亚利桑那大学被选为美国国家科学基金会“研究与教育一体化表彰奖”的十名获奖者之一。这所大学在考虑到本科教学质量的任期和晋升方针的修改和创新本科生物学专业的创建两个方面取得了显著的成就。该大学成立了一个科学与工程晋升和终身教职委员会，以确保在招聘、晋升和终身教职决定中，教育问题与研究表现一样得到考虑。此外，该大学致力于将研究注入到低年级和高年级的本科生体验中，生物学项目正在取得显著进展。一个生物学习中心正在帮助创建利用互联网资源的创新课程。生物学本科专业从事科研工作，有35个专业院系。研究成果由学生在校园里的年度会议上发表。这些研究经历的选定校友被安置在海外生物医学研究实验室。亚利桑那大学在整合研究和教育方面的努力是有具体成果的：在大学内各级和跨学科边界实施终身教职和晋升政策改革；大幅增加参与校内及海外生物研究的学生人数；扩大教师对本科生研究项目的参与；提高学生对生物专业多样化就业机会的认识。该大学在实现这些目标方面取得了显著的成功。该大学将获得50万美元的奖励，目标是在未来三年内扩大、记录和传播其示范性实践。使用奖励资金的计划包括：为其他机构的教员和行政人员举办关于终身教职改革的讲习班；增加对师生研究项目的支持；加强网上资源；制作和传播记录本科生物学课程的视频和印刷材料。

The University of Arizona has been selected as one of ten recipients of the National Science Foundation's Recognition Awards for the Integration of Research and Education. The university has achieved noteworthy success in two aspects of the integration of research and education: revision of tenure and promotion guidelines to consider the quality of undergraduate teaching, and creation of an innovative undergraduate biology program. The university has established a Science and Engineering Promotion and Tenure Committee which ensures that education issues are considered on a par with research performance in hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. In addition, the university is committed to infusing research into the undergraduate experience in both lower and upper divisions, and noteworthy progress is being made in the biology program. A Biology Learning Center is helping to create innovative courses that use Internet-based resources. Undergraduate biology majors are engaged in research with faculty from 35 academic departments. Research results are presented by students at an annual conference on campus. Selected alumnae of these research experiences are placed in biomedical research labs overseas. The University of Arizona's efforts to integrate research and education were designed with specific outcomes in mind: implement tenure and promotion policy reforms at all levels and across disciplinary boundaries within the university; increase significantly the numbers of students participating in biological research on campus and overseas; expand faculty participation in undergraduate research projects; and increase student awareness of diverse career opportunities available to biology majors. The university has documented noteworthy success in achieving these goals. The university is being awarded $500,000 with the goal of expanding, documenting, and disseminating its exemplary practices over the coming three years. Plans for use of the award funds include: conducting workshops on tenure reform for faculty and administrators from other institutions; increasing support for student-faculty research projects; enhancing Web-based resources; and production and dissemination of video and print materials that document the undergraduate biology program.