1. Students and faculty alike explore topics they are passionate about to gain valuable
experience within their fields. Academic collaborations between students and professors can
take many forms: lab-based experiments, service-learning projects, field research, and so forth.
Whatever form the research takes, collaborative projects provide vital professional skills and
experiences that will aid students professionally when they graduate.
Last fall, students and faculty collaborated to launch an online student-run newsroom,
IPFW Student Media. Advocated as a need by Daniel Tamul, assistant professor of
communication, the newsroom gives students in journalism classes a chance to have their news
stories peer-reviewed and published online at IPFW. This media center allows these students to
practice revising stories for publication and also helps them build a professional portfolio of
published work. In addition to publishing student work, the newsroom also offers positions for
student editors and fact-checkers. Tamul appointed communication majors Samantha Whiting
and Megan Mantica as the first students to run IPFW Student Media. “They publish what they
want, they reject what they want,” Tamul explained. “I have asked them though that they try to
push the stories as far as they can. If there’s something that could be good, then they try to
work with the student because the goal for the newsroom is to help students be better
journalists and writers.”
Whiting and Mantica have full editorial control over IPFW Student Media. Though not
actively involved in the actual editorial process, Tamul acts as a mentor and is available to
discuss any questions or concerns. Otherwise, Whiting and Mantica handle day-to-day
newsroom operations. “There are all different types of work I do in the newsroom,” Mantica
commented. “I meet with students to discuss story ideas. I edit and explain errors and issues

2. within students’ writing. It's taught me a lot not only about journalism but also about
management and working with people.” Mantica was particularly pleased with the amount of
practical experience her editorial position gave her. “Academically this experience has
challenged me to actually use what I'm learning in the classroom and continue it in a school
environment,” she said. “What I am most excited about it taking all aspects of what I've learned
and applying them to my future career.”
To encourage academic scholarship among students, IPFW hosts a number of
conferences and presentations. The Annual Undergraduate History Conference offers students
the opportunity to research and formally present a historical topic to a professional, academic
audience. These students work with faculty mentors, who provide them with valuable feedback
and insight. At the 2016 conference, students explored an array of topics ranging from the
creation of the CIA and the Cuban Missile Crisis to the development of radio and the Ouija
board. Heather Dewey, a junior history major, wrote her paper on Mexico reinstating the ejido
system of communal farmland (mentor: Richard Weiner, chair and professor of history). “I think
it’s extremely helpful to have the professor’s input because they’re an expert in what they do,
and it’s useful to have someone else’s opinion and to have someone to help you find
information that you might not necessarily be able to find on your own,” Dewey said. “It’s sort
of nice to have them as a sounding board, an advisor, and as someone who can help you find
materials.”
Many faculty members encourage their students to take part in events like academic or
professional conferences. As Weiner commented, “We think this is a really good experience for
students. It gives them practice in public speaking. It gets them used to academic conferences—

3. what they’re about—enhances their resume, [and] it’s good for career and professional
development.” Weiner continued, “Conferences are places where people are able to present
their ideas and get feedback on those ideas, and then receive some, maybe, new perspectives
on things that help them move forward with these projects in the future.”
Often, student-faculty collaboration can benefit nearby communities as well. In 2015,
Assistant Professor Sherrie Steiner (sociology) involved her Sociology S360, Environmental
Sociology students in a service learning project with the community group, Blackford County
Concerned Citizens, last year to promote environmental safety and awareness by testing
contaminant levels in fourteen private water wells. Small groups of the students created
informational videos, mapped current and past local industrial sites, and prepared a formal
presentation of their findings. Service learning projects like this one in Blackford County not
only provide information that will benefit the local community, but also the process also shows
students the impact their research can have. Steiner’s student, Ben Reusser, realized, “Being a
good citizen means employing the talents and knowledge I have gained to improve my country
and community. This is the area in which I live and to allow that area to decline or remain
stagnate when I can offer assistance is unacceptable.”
Over the course of this project, the students overcame several challenges with
assistance and encouragement from Steiner. Initially intimidated by the video quality
requested, the class produced a video that Blackford County Concerned Citizens used in
community education presentations. Students also altered their project to meet the needs of
their partners by revising their initial storyboard (the “script” for the video) and interviewing a
new professional at the last minute. These tasks and changes help students to develop essential

4. professional skills while also helping to make a difference in Blackford County’s environmental
health. Brandon Myers, another of Steiner’s students, remarked, “I believe it is paramount to
use the skills acquired in college to do good. I believe those that can, should because not
everyone knows they can make a difference. I believe college is providing me with the skills I
need to make more of a difference.” Opportunities like these allow students to apply their
research in a way that connects them to their community as well as their future careers.
Students working alongside faculty on research teams not only gain valuable academic
experience, but are often beneficial to the projects of their faculty mentors. Steven Stevenson,
associate professor of chemistry, employs students from a variety of majors in his lab to help
him synthesize and purify new molecules. “Undergraduate IPFW students have led to data and
results that I put into research proposals that have been funded,” he explained. “I put an
IPFW’s undergraduate student’s results in a recent National Science Foundation grant, and it
was just funded. It just started. So a lot of credit goes to these students. Their work goes into
book chapters, they go into publications.”
Stevenson wants to provide unique opportunities for lab-based research and
scholarship, and he offers it to students of any major. Hannah Masri, an undergraduate nursing
major, has worked with Stevenson to isolate new molecules for specific projects. “Some of
these projects have medical applications, which as a nursing student I find particularly
interesting,” Masri explained. Another of Stevenson’s lab workers, undergraduate psychology
major Hannah Thompson, is excited about the opportunities this research gives her. “When
applying to graduate schools, being able to list research and co-authored publications on my
resume will give me a competitive edge,” Thompson said. “Most graduate programs are

5. research-oriented, and the fact that I have past experience of working in a research group will
make me a desirable applicant.” Even though they are researching outside their majors, these
undergraduate students are gaining marketable credentials and experience that will benefit
them in their future careers, experiences that are restricted to graduate students at other
universities.
There are many opportunities available for students to collaborate with faculty mentors.
Researching alongside an instructor or taking part in long-term projects helps students gain
professional skills and experience. By creating opportunities for students to engage with topics
that interest them, providing mentorship to guide them, and developing a culture of
undergraduate research on our campus, IPFW’s faculty encourage greater scholarship and set
students up to succeed after college.