Program Overview
TURC Program Overview
The Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC)
is a program that emphasizes undergraduate research, leadership, and
community involvement. The University of Tulsa's TURC Program is unique
in its commitment to the individual student. It has been successful in
preparing students for a life of community
engagement
and in garnering internationally competitive fellowships
and scholarships.
Notable aspects of the program are described
below.
The centerpiece of the program is research. The goals of such research may be to deliver papers at academic conferences, to produce publishable articles, or to initiate meaningful community projects. In disciplines in which publications are not the standard of scholarship, other criteria may be used (e.g., a musical composition, an art exhibit).
Each TURC student has a faculty advisor who
will help the student along paths of mutual interest and will monitor his or
her progress. The TURC program recognizes the academic disciplines are
variable in the ways scholars conduct research and in the amount of
background study necessary to be effective in this
endeavor.
As a result, the kind and amount of
preparation necessary will vary by discipline and by individual student and
project.
A fundamental precept of the TURC Program is that all TURC students have an obligation to give something back to the community. Every student in this program should contribute to the community in some way, whether that be in tutoring younger students, helping in a community service organization, or getting involved in some other capacity.
Some TURC students will become candidates for nationally competitive scholarships, such as Fulbright, Goldwater, Truman, Marshall and Rhodes during their sophomore, junior and senior years. Nona Charleston is the officer at this university whose job it is to help students compete for these awards.