Richard Ignace, long-standing director of undergraduate research and creative activities for ETSU’s Honors College, has stepped down to devote more time to teaching and researching. Ignace is a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Trena Paulus will serve as the new director. Paulus is a research faculty member at the Quillen College of Medicine. She is also a faculty member of ETSU’s Applied Social Research Laboratory.
As director, Paulus hopes to demystify the idea that undergraduate research is solely for honors students.
“Sometimes people think because it’s housed in the honors college it’s only for honors students,” said Paulus. “So, one thing Dean Keller and I are working on is, how do you reframe and talk about research so it feels like it’s open to everyone?”
Research, explains Paulus, is problem solving at its core, which is an important skill to acquire.
“So, I think it’s about figuring out how to frame what it is we’re talking about and also connecting that to the real-world skills that you’re going to have going out of college,” said Paulus.
Paulus specializes in the design and analysis of online conversations. Her books on online research are garnering plenty of attention during the unforeseen rise and demand for online instructional learning.
“It’s this weird convergence of something I’ve been doing for a long time, and some researchers are interested in it,” said Paulus. “Now everybody wants to know how we move these methods into online spaces.”
Paulus and Keller plan to re-envision the director position during the 2020-2021 academic year.
“Since there won’t be as much travel, as many conferences, this is a really good year for us to be able to kind of re-envision and think about what we want to do with undergraduate research and creative activities in terms of the programming, and make it feel accessible to everyone,” said Paulus.
Paulus, who has spent the past couple years writing books, is excited to return to working with students.
“We are trying to put together some new initiatives that will be very inclusive,” said Paulus. “We are actively working with community partners to create new programs and new opportunities.”
This initiative will provide students with applicable job skills they can take with them after graduation.
