Travel funds demonstrate students’ academic achievements
The Academic Opportunity Fund offers grants for undergraduate students to demonstrate their academic achievements by traveling to conferences directly related to their area of study.
Ericka Ensign, Academics vice president for the Associated Students of Utah State University, said Spring Semester 2002 the USU Academic Council took the fund idea to ASUSU for approval.
The purpose of the fund was to promote academic achievement in undergraduate students, she said. ASUSU tested the idea with a budget of $2,500 for the undergraduate students who applied.
The program has since become a “line item,” which means $10,000 in funding will be set aside for undergraduate students each year, Ensign said.
“It’s exciting, because it’s something that is directly related to academics. It’s exciting to see dollars going towards academic achievement,” she said.
Having students go out of the state and represent USU is good, Ensign said. USU is a land-grant research institution, and the students should be able to compete with other schools.
Students have a lot of opportunities to share their academic achievements, but they do not have the funding to do it, she said.
“When the money is coming out of your own pocket, it doesn’t look quite as enticing,” Ensign said.
Without the funding, students weigh their options of being able to “eat or go show off scholastic achievement,” she said
Matt Spencer, a biology major, was able to show his scholastic achievement in White Water, Wisc. this summer. He presented his research on plant pathology at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research. Spencer said he received an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) grant for some of his research, but ASUSU offered him money from the Academic Opportunity Fund to pay the rest.
Spencer said there are many options available to undergraduate students at USU.
At the conference he attended, there were students presenting research from various majors. He received feedback from professors and fellow undergraduates about his research, he said.
Spencer said the Academic Opportunity Fund is beneficial for students. He learned the skills of critical thinking and problem solving by applying for his URCO grant and preparing research, he said. He plans to attend medical school after graduation, and these skills will help him in this field, he said.
Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research, said ASUSU’s Academic Opportunity Fund parallels the Graduate Student Senate’s fund for graduate students.
“I was delighted last year when ASUSU took the initiative to establish an undergraduate travel fund,” she said. “We have an increasing number of undergraduates who are professionally active, and this gives them an opportunity to go head-to-head with other major research universities.”
Kinkead said the Academic Opportunity Fund has been popular. ASUSU was out of money before the end of the term, so students should apply early for the fund.
Norm Jones, head of the history department, said having students who are able to travel and present their research in national conferences is a “pat on the back for
faculty.”
Students’ ability to present at conferences verifies they are getting an education, he said.
“One of the worst things about being an undergraduate is that you are not allowed to play with the big kids. These are opportunities for people that have really got some talent to find out if they want to go to graduate school,” Jones said. “It’s an important verification of their talent.”
The Academic Opportunity Fund is nice for the students, because they meet a lot of professional people in important areas and start making connections for their future, he said.
-alih@cc.usu.edu