Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
FUN Mission Statement - 1993
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience represents the concerns of neuroscientists who have particular interest in teaching neuroscience at undergraduate colleges and universities. Our members come from a broad range of institutions, from private small liberal arts schools to state universities and research universities focusing on undergraduate instruction. Presently we are pursuing five primary objectives:
Since no formal division presently exists within the Society for Neuroscience to support the concerns of faculty from primarily undergraduate colleges and universities, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience will provide the Society with a mechanism to enhance its present efforts to bring educational matters to center stage.
If neuroscience is to flourish as a discipline in the future, the interest and excitement of young neuroscientists at our colleges and universities must be nurtured by the faculty fundamentally responsible for training them. As reported by the Congressional Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology, the number of scientists that are presently being trained and that will be entering the job market in the next decade has declined to such a degree that our country's economic stability and scientific supremacy may be seriously threatened well into the next century. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans do not recognize the importance of scientific training at the undergraduate level to guarantee a bright and productive future for our nation. Historically, small liberal arts colleges and universities have contributed enormously to the pool of students who pursue advanced degrees in science and engineering.
We at the small liberal arts colleges and universities conduct scientific research not only for its own sake but as a vehicle by which we can stimulate our students' interest in and appreciation for science. Undergraduate students at smaller institutions must have exposure to neuroscientists who are actively engaged in research, otherwise they will be unaware of the scientific problems currently being investigated, and will be at a significant disadvantage relative to their peers who have that opportunity at larger research institutions. Moreover, unless we continue our efforts to sustain neuroscience teaching and research at small liberal arts colleges and universities our students' experience with science may be limited to laboratory courses in which the problems they encounter are "pre-packaged." Thus, our students will rarely experience the complexity and richness of an original scientific undertaking. By involving our students in research with their faculty, we will not only broaden their knowledge and training in science, but kindle an interest in and an appreciation for the issues with which neuroscientists are concerned. We believe that this additional experience will significantly improve the training of our students as they prepare for entry into careers in neuroscience, medicine, or public policy.
In partnership with the Society for Neuroscience, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience is committed to supporting the scientists who have chosen to teach future neuroscientists at undergraduate colleges and universities.
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