College of Science & Health (CSH)

The Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship program in the College of Science and Health (CSH) is intended to foster collaborative research between an undergraduate student and one or more faculty mentor(s).  The faculty mentor is expected to help structure and actively participate in all phases of the collaborative research project while allowing the student to assume a suitable level of independence and responsibility.  Students are expected to communicate their results by (1) preparing a poster to present at the CSH Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, (2) to prepare a presentation (oral or poster) for the spring UW-L Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creativity, and (3) submit a concisely written summary report. Students are also encouraged to present at a professional meeting, which includes the annual National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR).  Students and their mentors are encouraged to submit the summary report for possible publication in the UW-L Journal of Undergraduate Research or in a professional journal.

Membership: The Dean of the College of Science & Health (hereafter termed the Dean) will appoint the chair and nine CSH faculty and/or academic staff members from departments within the CSH to the committee, with no more than two members from any one department.  Terms of appointment will be three years, with the intent of rotating one third of the membership each year.

Voting: A quorum of 2/3 of the committee members will be required for making decisions about bylaws, procedures, and funding recommendations for grants.  Approval of actions (except for revising bylaws, see III. A) will be made by simple majority vote of those voting aye or nay (i.e., does not include those abstaining).

Revision of committee bylaws: The committee may propose changes to these bylaws.  Proposed changes to these bylaws shall require approval of 60% of the committee members voting, followed by submission of proposed changes to the Dean for approval.

Revision of procedures for administration of the program, grant applications, and proposal review: The committee may propose changes to procedures as deemed necessary.  Recommended revisions will be submitted to the Dean for approval.  Detailed guidelines and policies for preparing grant proposals are accessible online though the College of Science and Health web site.

Review and ranking of grant proposals: The Committee will review and rank proposals and will make funding recommendations to the Dean in the form of a ranked list of the proposals.  It is recommended, but not required, that proposals be evaluated using the rubric agreed on by the committee.

Responsibilities of the chair: The chair is responsible for the following:  updating the fellowship program website, organizing meetings for ranking proposals, ensuring that committee members understand the ranking process, following established timelines, providing advertising information to the CSH office and to departments within the CSH, communicating information to and from the CSH office on behalf of the committee, and when his/her term has expired providing continuity for the new chair.

The Dean will be responsible for securing funding and will inform the committee (as early as possible in the academic year) about the approximate funding available and the number of awards possible.  The Dean will make the final funding decisions and will inform the applicants by letter of whether they were funded, by the fourth week in March.  Copies of these letters will be forwarded to the mentors, committee chair, and chair of the faculty mentor’s department.

Publicity: The Committee will take the following actions within the timelines indicated.

1. 1. Update the College web site with current application deadlines and other details—early November.
   2. Send announcements to all CSH faculty regarding the Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship application forms and policies—November.
   3. Meet with all CSH departments to advertise the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship program and the application requirements – November & December.
   4. Post flyers in hallways of Cartwright Center, Centennial Hall, Cowley Hall, Eagle Rec Center, Health Sciences Center, Mitchell Hall, Wimberley Hall, and Wing Technology Center advertising fellowships to students—December.
   5. Present and distribute information regarding Dean’s Distinguished Fellowships to faculty and staff—spring semester meeting of the CSH.
   6. Send a reminder to all CSH faculty—last week of January.

Application deadline: 4pm the second Friday in February

Distribution of completed proposals to committee members: 2 days after the second Friday in February

Committee meeting to review and rank proposals: At least two weeks after distribution of the proposals to committee members

Report of the committee recommendations to the Dean: 2 days after the final committee ranking meeting

Announcement of the fellowship awards by the Dean: 4^th week in March

Each committee member will review and rank proposals and will submit their rankings to the chair prior to the meeting for discussing the proposals.  Any committee member who is a research mentor to an applicant will not participate in the ranking of that proposal, or in the committee’s discussion of the proposal, but is not required to leave the room during the discussion.  After the discussion meeting, each committee member will have the opportunity to re-rank the proposals.  Committee members are expected to attend the discussion meeting; if a member is unable to attend the meeting in person or via teleconferencing, it is that member’s responsibility to make arrangements for recording the meeting and to listen to the recording prior to re-ranking the proposals.