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ISBN: 9781032701271

Expected November 2024

The short coda contains interview excerpts from undergraduate research alumni who are at least twenty years beyond their research experience. These older alumni—who today work in local government, nonprofits, healthcare, higher education, and corporate advertising—take the long, long view of their intensive research experiences, reflecting on how their research inflected their personal and professional lives. We conclude with an argument for encouraging current and alumni undergraduate researchers to tell their stories; the work of creating and assessing undergraduate research programs must also be the work of centering the voices and lived experiences of undergraduate researchers.  

Discussion Questions

  1. In twenty years, what do you think your current undergraduate researchers would say about their experience? How might their comments align—or not—with those in this chapter?  
  2. Several alumni in this chapter comment, either implicitly or explicitly, on the current state of higher education? How do you respond to those comments?