One of the greatest privileges of being a university professor is the opportunity to work one-on-one with a great number of students, both as a mentor and as a facilitator of independent student research projects. Students are why I show up to begin with; they are the reason I do this work. So mentoring and supporting their research has long been a centerpiece of my teaching. The following documents both reflect my attitudes toward this work and show working examples of it.
Editor, Young Scholars in Writing, Jan. 2015-Jan. 2020
My most nationally visible work in fostering undergraduate research has been as Editor of the leading national peer-reviewed journal of UGR in rhetoric and writing studies, Young Scholars in Writing. I’ve served on YSW’s board since its 2005 formation, and took the helm 2015-2020, publishing vols. 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. YSW‘s yearly volume contains 8-15 pieces from students nationwide, peer-reviewed first by undergrads in MSU’s WRIT 374 Magazine Editing and Production class and then by faculty editors who work writers of accepted pieces through revision.
Naylor Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies – Invited Facilitator and Mentor, 2019
The Naylor Workshop convenes undergraduate researchers from around the nation and teacher-scholars in fields related to their work, for an intensive 4-day research development program that guides students forward in their research processes, whether developing research questions, developing methods, developing funding proposals, analyzing data, or preparing presentations of results. Facilitator/mentors are invited based on their own scholarship and their demonstrated engagement in mentoring undergraduate research.
Naylor Symposium on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies – Featured Scholar, 2018
From the Symposium website: “In its fifth year, leaders of the Naylor Workshop decided it was time to take stock of the ways that it was serving the advancement of undergraduate research in the field, and also to examine the larger picture of how undergraduate research was influencing the discipline writ large. Dominic DelliCarpini, Jane Greer, and Jenn Fishman began planning for a unique event that would invite national leaders to York College to assess the state of this high-impact practice and to help plan ways forward for the discipline. … The group of scholars assembled to set the goal of publishing its own report—the Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies (Parlor Press, 2020). … Working groups spent three days, discussing key issues related to their own motif but also interacting regularly with other groups to find points of contact.” I was lead writer for the Circulation chapter in the resulting Naylor Report.
Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award Nomination (2015) — As a humanities professor at a STEM institution that engages thousands of undergraduates in research in probably nearly a hundred labs across campus, I never expected to win a university-level award for mentoring undergraduate research. Nominating materials for the award included a colleague’s letter, student letters of support, and my own philosophy of mentoring undergraduate researchers.
Academic Advising Award Application (2013) — I was one of Montana State University’s first recipients of its new university-wide advising award in 2013. This application includes a description of my advising work to that point, my advising philosophy, and supporting letters from students and my department chair.
“Uniform Meets Rhetoric” — Chapter co-authored with undergraduate Angie Mallory for Generation Vet: Composition, Student Veterans, and the Post-9/11 University (ed Sue Doe and Lisa Langstraat, USUP, 2014). Angie proposed the project to me and we ran the project as co-PIs.
Commented Undergrad Research carried to publication — In my Spring 2014 capstone research seminar for writing majors, a student produced a study of student-writer ethos which clearly had the potential for development to publication. This piece is the first complete draft I saw; the writer eventually submitted it to Young Scholars in Writing (the year before I became editor) and it was published.
Initial Edit of a YSW Submission — For ten years before becoming Editor of Young Scholars in Writing, I served as a Faculty Advising Editor, conducting initial reviews of students submissions and their accompanying peer reviews, deciding whether to accept the submission, and working with the writer on subsequent revisions. This commented draft is the first in-depth revision feedback after I’ve accepted the piece and the writer has agreed to the necessary revision.
Commented Graduate Student Drafting — To show some of my habits in commenting on student writing when the student is quite advanced and in a thought-constructing mode, I’ve included this synthesis paper written by a graduate student at the end of an independent study that led into her M.A. professional project, which I chaired.
Doug Downs | Teaching 