Why Should Faculty Join CUR?

Faculty are already members of discipline-specific organizations. Why then should they join CUR? Here are six reasons:

1. CUR addresses future trends in Undergraduate Research (UR), such as assessment, UR in curriculum, business, industry, and government collaborations in UR.
2. Membership provides access to CUR programs, such as Posters on the Hill, National Conference on Undergraduate Research, CUR Institutes
3. CUR gives opportunities for networking with and learning about effective practices used in other disciplines.
4. CUR publications address issues not addressed by the MAA (e.g., assessing the effectiveness of UR)
5. CUR advocates nationally for UR (e.g. NSF REUs resulted from CUR advocacy, Goldwater/CUR award)
6. In getting universities/colleges to institute activities that promote UR (e.g., teaching credit for faculty who are doing UR, UR being valued in P&T, etc.), organizations like CUR that has members from multiple disciplines and administrators are more effective than disciplinary organizations.

The Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics Division has a list of the top 10 reasons to join CUR: Top 2³ + 2 Reasons to Join CUR

Faculty Deadlines & Events

October

• The CUR REU Symposium usually held in late October in Arlington, VA.

November

• CUR-Goldwater Scholar Faculty Mentor Award, initial nomination by President or Provost due early November. Nominees must have mentored at least three Goldwater Scholars during his/her career.
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro Regional Mathematics and Statistics Conference, usually early November.
• CUR Councilor Nominations due mid-November

December

• CUR Fellow award nominations are usually due in December. CUR Fellows are leaders and role models for a broad range of faculty and students. Joseph Gallian became a CUR Fellow in 2002, and is the only CUR fellow from our division.

January

• CUR Quarterly submissions of a short prospectus submissions (300-500 words) describing the focus of a proposed article or vignette. The winter deadline is usually early January.
• CUR Dialogues allow faculty and administrators to interact with federal agency program officers in Washington, DC, usually in mid-February. Registration deadlines is late January or early February.

March

• CUR Division Mentoring Awards Nominations, due March 31st each year.
• Preparation for Industrial Careers in Mathematical Sciences (PICMath), usually due in March 1.
• CUR institutes are multi-day meetings on a college campus to discuss an issue related to undergraduate research and faculty development. Deadlines vary.

June

• CUR Annual Business Meeting for elected councilors. Usually held in late June or early July.
• CUR Biennial Conference brings together faculty, staff, administrators, policymakers, representatives of funding agencies, and other stakeholders with an interest in conducting and promoting undergraduate research. Usually held in even years late June or early July.

UR SIGMAA

The purpose of UR SIGMAA is to promote and broaden participation in undergraduate research in mathematics by supporting faculty serving as mentors and by supporting interested students.  Specific objectives include

• Facilitating discussion among mathematicians and mathematics educators interested in undergraduate research.
• Promoting undergraduate research within the MAA, through greater awareness of the work in this area currently underway, and by providing encouraging members to become involved.
• Providing development opportunities for faculty interested in beginning work in undergraduate research.
• Recognizing accomplishment in undergraduate research in mathematics.

You can learn more about the SIGMAA and how to join at http://www.maa.org/community/sigmaas