Barchi: Research 'hub' to offer aid to undergraduate students

University Provost Robert Barchi, who took office in February, has announced preliminary plans to establish a research "hub," a broad-based and accessible location that would help undergraduates conduct their research and give them a place to talk to professors or bounce ideas off fellow students. Barchi said the research hub will likely be established in an already-existing building, though no location has been formally discussed. It is likely, Barchi said, that researchers of all disciplines -- ranging from the humanities to the physical sciences -- will use the hub more to share ideas and receive advice and suggestions from faculty members than to conduct hard research itself. Barchi and University President Judith Rodin both said the hub could be based along the lines of Kelly Writers House and Civic House, both of which have sprouted on campus in the past few years and provide forums in which students with mutual interests can collaborate with one another. Barchi said he is conferring with students and faculty members to determine exactly what shape the research hub should take and specifically what services it will provide. There is no timetable for the project, Barchi said, and more details will emerge only after such consultation has taken place. "I would like to see this reflect what the students think," Barchi said. Increased research has been targeted by University administrators as a top priority in recent years. Rodin's "Agenda for Excellence," released in late 1995, said Penn should "aggressively seek greater research opportunities." It was also one of Barchi's stated major goals upon taking office as provost. The Humanities Forum, now in its first full year of existence, awarded fellowships to six undergraduates last year who presented detailed proposals for research projects in the humanities. Humanities Forum Director Wendy Steiner said she believes research should be valued highly and conducted seriously at a top-rate university. "The core of what goes on in a university is training students in the liberal arts," Steiner said. Many students, Steiner added, arrive at Penn with a "hunger" for learning and research, and a research hub like the one Barchi has in mind could pique that interest. "I don't think students come here to be pre-professional," Steiner said. "I think they come here to get a terrific education and, by and large, that's what they get." School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston said ample research experiences already exist at Penn, as evidenced by a recent survey revealing that 75 percent of last year's SAS graduates had engaged in a significant research experience during their years at Penn. But he said that percentage can and should increase. "Research experiences are at the center of what we do and ought to be seen as what we do," Preston said.