A business student and an English professor will present research this academic year that they spent the summer collecting together.
Dr. Regina Ann McManigell Grijalva, associate professor of English, and Anna Delony, business administration senior, were awarded a Creativity Activity Inquiry Research grant last year.
The grant provides funds for a professor and student to fulfill a research project.
Professors are awarded $3,000, and students are granted $2,000. A student and professor team together and choose a topic they would like to research. After the research is collected, the professor publishes a paper on their findings, and the student gives a presentation.
Students also are required to present their study on Undergraduate Research Day or to publish their work in The Stellar undergraduate research journal or The Scarab literary journal.
The grant encourages “critical thinking, creativity and the ability to think holistically and across disciplines of study,” according to its website, okcu.edu/academics/research.
To apply, a student must submit a project summary, narrative, timeline, and budget to Dr. James Guzak, associate professor of management. The study can be on any topic.
Delony and Grijalva chose to research the Apache Wars, which Grijalva already was researching before receiving the grant.
“It was an amazing experience for me to learn more about the research process and how to narrow down a broad topic into a researchable one,” Delony said.
Delony and Grijalva traveled to D.C. and New Mexico during the summer to conduct research. They looked in the national archives for information about the Apache Wars.
“The program gave me the chance to work with Anna in exploring a fascinating topic–the 1863 murder of Chiricahua Apache Chief Mangas Coloradas, which neither of us would have been able to do otherwise because the archival research took us to Washington, D.C. and Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Grijalva said.
They examined microfilm and undated evidence about the wars.
Delony’s research presentation date has not been set yet. She plans to attend the Honors Great Plains Council conference hosted by the University of Texas-Tyler in April 2019. She also will participate in Undergraduate Research Day.
“The opportunity to work closely with an OCU student such as Anna Delony is a privilege,” Grijalva said. “I would advise any student who is inspired by a professor to approach him or her about doing a summer research project.”
Leave a Reply