Source ProjectOn-Going Open Call to Faculty for Experimental First-Year Research Courses |
The Source Project is an opportunity for faculty to experiment with new pedagogical strategies in small seminars with highly engaged, self-selected first-year students. The goal of this project is to guide students from being consumers to producers of knowledge through a full year sequence of two, four-credit courses in fall and spring semesters. We are always looking for new course ideas. We plan new courses 1-2 years in advance and welcome ideas from faculty at any time.
The Source Project focuses on topics that emphasize consequential aspects of the human experience, broadly, through research in the humanities, arts, social sciences or interdisciplinary topics that may include STEM alongside one of these areas. Faculty who teach in the Source Project will enable their students to discover sources, ask questions, and produce original projects that express their findings to audiences inside and outside of the classroom. The intent of the program is to include students in the excitement of research and creative work from their first days as a college student to increase their capacity to be curious, independent learners over the course of their undergraduate career.
The External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center offers Source Project faculty support to develop, teach and collaborate on new course ideas. We provide financial support to enable teaching outside of one’s teaching obligations, including course release, extra service, or research stipends for external mentors. We are flexible to individual circumstances. We also have a class set of tablets for loan, help faculty access interactive teaching spaces, enable publication and presentation venues for students and assist in arranging guest speakers or other ways to connect your classroom to the outside world. We form a working group to trouble shoot and share ideas about course-based undergraduate research.
The Source Project piloted in 2018-19 with two course sequences in material culture and human rights,
grew to three course sequences in 2019-20, and six course sequences in 2020-21, 2021-22,
and 2022-23. Faculty in all colleges and professional schools are welcome to propose
ideas. Preference will be given to courses that can become embedded in the undergraduate
curriculum as part of a major or minor.
The first step in proposing a sequence of research courses is to contact Source Project
Coordinator Caroline Antalek (cantalek@binghamton.edu) with questions or ideas. Then we invite you to submit a proposal on a rolling basis.
If you are interested in teaching for AY 2023-24 or 2024-25, please submit your proposal
by May 15, 2022.
To submit a proposal, email responses to the following requests to cantalek@binghamton.edu with the following information:
(1) Description of the course sequence;
(2) Statement of interest in teaching this course sequence and how it builds on your
teaching and research interests and experience;
(3) Ideas for potential undergraduate research projects and dissemination of these projects;
(4) Major, minor and/or general education credits that your courses would fulfill, and
the contribution of your proposed courses to your department or program's curricular
plan;
(5) Proposed timeline for course development and teaching, and request for leave or extra
service (please plan around other leave requests, or if uncertain, please disclose
tentative leave based on pending applications or plans);
(6) Short biosketch with a headshot or link to preferred headshot already online to be
used on our website.