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Thriving Together: Connecting Civic Engagement, International Relations Pedagogy, and Undergraduate Research as Workload

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The Palgrave Handbook of Teaching and Research in Political Science

Part of the book series: Political Pedagogies ((PP))

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Abstract

This chapter explores an ongoing teaching-research project, Civic Engagement and International Affairs, for advanced undergraduates at a regional comprehensive public university. It starts with an upper-level political science elective class which includes a 20-page student-designed research paper on one United Nations organ/agency. Students who receive a grade of B or higher can continue for independent study credit, part of which requires them to revise and expand the paper into a project suitable for presentation at local, regional, or national undergraduate research conferences. Students have made over 100 presentations thus far, and other students have conducted research and co-published with the professor regarding this model. After reviewing this model and its processes, this chapter explores how this project’s success also has contributed to new campus-wide initiatives, such as undergraduate research grants, additions to promotion, tenure, and merit (PTRM) documents, and an interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Club. I note specific examples of how it figured into the instructor’s workload and promotion/tenure. When possible, I present students’ post-undergraduate career paths, their connection(s) to the model, and demographic data. Overall, this chapter presents a replicable model of expanding advanced undergraduate research for students, incorporating undergraduate research into the workload, and developing mentoring relationships that result in co-publishable work.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    #2077, “TU Alumni: Impacts on Participation in TU-BCPS Model United Nations program (PI: McCartney, Alison M)” was Exempt approved by the Towson University IRB Committee. See also Alison Rios Millett McCartney and Sivan Chaban, “Bringing the World Home: Effectively Connecting Civic Engagement and International Relations,” in Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen, eds. Alison Rios Millett McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion, and Dick Simpson. Washington, D.C.: American political Science Association, 2013: 259–277.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA

    Alison Rios Millett McCartney

Authors
  1. Alison Rios Millett McCartney
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Correspondence to Alison Rios Millett McCartney .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Charity Butcher

  2. School of Government and International Affairs, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Tavishi Bhasin

  3. School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Elizabeth Gordon

  4. School of Government and International Affairs, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Maia Carter Hallward

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McCartney, A.R.M. (2023). Thriving Together: Connecting Civic Engagement, International Relations Pedagogy, and Undergraduate Research as Workload. In: Butcher, C., Bhasin, T., Gordon, E., Hallward, M.C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Teaching and Research in Political Science. Political Pedagogies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42887-6_25

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