September 25, 1998: Volume 44, Number 3

$500 AIRE Grant Seen as 'Outstanding Validation'

Union was one of only 10 colleges nationwide to receive National Science Foundation Awards for the Integration of Research and Education (AIRE), the NSF announced this week.

The award is a $500,000 three-year grant to design and implement programs that extend the College's vision to integrate research and education.

"The NSF AIRE award is an outstanding validation of the kind of inquiry-driven investigative learning that we value at Union College," said Dean of Faculty Linda Cool. "It demonstrates that our faculty are thinking in exciting and innovative ways about involving our students in collaboration and research."

Other AIRE recipients are Colby College, Grinnell College, Harvey Mudd College, Hope College, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Reed College, Wellesley College and Coastal Carolina University.

Union was selected from a field of 56 applicants that included most of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. The College was selected over seven other institutions consistently ranked in the top 10 of national liberal arts colleges.

"These institutions are strengthening the bonds between research and education by designing and implementing new ways to involve undergraduate students in the process of discovery," said Joe Bordogna, NSF's acting deputy director. "These new awards help create a discovery-rich environment where institutions and their students can benefit from making research an essential component of school curriculum," he added.

Union has integrated investigative learning throughout its science and engineering curricula with new programs that cross disciplines, pilot new pedagogical models and incorporate international field experiences. Union proposes to extend its vision with new courses that bridge the gap between engineering and the liberal arts and that integrate research and international experiences.

A number of people were vital in preparing Union's proposal, said Cool. They were John Garver, Joe Zolner, David Hayes, Mike Rudko, Brad Lewis, Byron Nichols, Ron Bucinell, John Spinelli, Chris LaPlante, George Williams, Tom Werner, Rob Olberg, Barbara Boyer, Kristin Fox, Jay Newman, Les Hull, Charlie Scaife, Peter Tobiessen, Karen Brison, Hal Fried, Doug Klein, Jim McWhirter, Pat Allen, Christie Sorum, Dave Hannay, Dwight Wolf, Pat Tappa, Jim Underwood and Terry Weiner.

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