Pleet Initiative for Student/Faculty Research Across the Curriculum

The Pleet Initiative for Student/Faculty Research Across the Curriculum was funded in early 2008 through a generous gift from David and Lynn Pleet of Lebanon, Pa. The three-year initiative provides funds to support joint student/faculty research projects, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Six projects, involving 35-40 students and 11 faculty members from 2008-2011, are funded under the Pleet Initiative. The projects will conclude with a campus celebration of undergraduate research at which the results of the individual projects will be presented by the students involved.

List of Student/Faculty Research Projects Supported by Pleet Grants (2008-11)

Terrorism and Fear: Historical, Political, and Psychological Implications (2008-10).

Faculty Mentors: Drs. Chris Dolan and Diane Johnson (Political Science), John Hinshaw (History), and Michael Kitchens (Psychology).
Students and faculty work in small teams to address central questions related to terrorism and fear. This topic coincides with the 2008-09 college colloquium entitled "Age of Terrorism," and students are encouraged to attend colloquium events to inform their own research. The teams come together periodically to present work accomplished and to discuss and synthesize progress made. Teams will travel to regional academic conferences and will host a research conference at LVC.
The two-year terrorism project is funded by a Pleet Grant of $6,600.

Undergraduate Research on the Lebanon County ARD Program for DUI Offenders (2008-10).

Faculty Mentors: Drs. Carolyn Hanes and Marianne Goodfellow of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.
Students work through the Sociology 311 Research Methods course to study trends and assess variables in an extensive set of data on DUI incidents provided by the Lebanon County District Attorney's Office and to study the recidivism rate among DUI offenders in the new Alternative Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) program versus a control group undergoing more conventional approaches.
The Pleet grant provided $7,900 in support of the two-year DUI project.

The Valley Humanities Review (2009-11).

Faculty Mentors: Drs. Gabriel Scala and Laura Eldred of the Department of English.
Project will develop a national online humanities journal to be housed in the English department at LVC. An editorial board of five faculty and six students from five LVC departments will conceptualize and develop the web journal and evaluate and edit submissions to the journal. The journal will sponsor annual contests for undergraduate scholarship at Lebanon Valley College and for student scholarship within local high schools. The Valley Humanities Review will endeavor to build a national presence for the humanities at Lebanon Valley College.
The Pleet Award for this project is $8500.

Ephemerality and the Environment: Art and the Public Space (2009-11).

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Grant Taylor of the Department of Art and Art History.
Dr. Taylor will work with 5-8 students in a creative collaborative group to complete three public art projects in three different communities (i.e., the LVC campus, the rural Annville area, and urban Philadelphia or Harrisburg). Students will have direct roles in the conception, development, and execution of the projects. Because the projects will embody the concepts of environmental sustainability and local specificity, they will be constructed from local, natural materials. The notion of students working with a professor as "collaborative artists" and co-contributors in the creative process is both unique and exciting.
The Pleet Award for this project is $5800.

Creating an Online Interpretive Archive on the Sandino Rebellion in Nicaragua, 1927-1934 (2009-11).

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Schroeder of the Department of History and Political Science.
Dr. Schroeder will work with 2-4 undergraduate students to create a comprehensive integrated online archive of a major episode in 20th century US-Latin American relations. The students will redesign Dr. Schroeder's initial version of the website using more sophisticated software, will transcribe and publish on the website approximately one-half of the more than 12,000 original documents collected by Dr. Schroeder, will integrate maps and timelines into the website, and will add cross-referencing links to make the site more interactive. The resulting interactive web archive will have value for historians studying Central and South America, military historians, and Nicaraguans working to understand the roots of their own society.
The Pleet Award for this project is $5000.

The Effects of Aerobic Exercise on the Academic Engagement and Stereotypic Behaviors of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2009-11).

Faculty mentors: Dr. Kathryn Oriel of the Department of Physical Therapy and Dr. Cheryl George of the Department of Education.
Project will investigate preliminary findings that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) respond positively to aerobic exercise. The research roles proposed for LVC physical therapy and special education research students are authentic and important for the success of the project. Ultimately, students will present their work at national research conferences and submit a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. Finding a definitive link between aerobic exercise and benefits to children with ASD would be of great value to ASD families.
The Pleet Award for this project is $10,000.