From the desk of Nancy Hensel, Executive Office of the Council on Undergraduate Research:

On November 16, 2010 the United States House of Representatives voted to declare the week of April 11, 2011 as Undergraduate Research Week. We and Washington Partners drafted a resolution and it was carried forward by Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey. Representatives Glen Thompson of Pennsylvania and Representative Mazie Hirono of Hawaii spoke in favor of the bill. Below are links to the C-Span recordings of their remarks and I have attached a copy of the resolution that was passed and the press release we have sent out.

We are hoping to schedule Posters on the Hill on April 12th or 13th and are waiting for confirmation of space from our contact in Congress. Because of Congressional transition, it is taking a little longer than it normally does. Regardless of when we are able to schedule Posters on the Hill, we would like to have many events across the country to celebrate the week. Some members have asked their mayor and their state legislature to declare a particular day or week as Undergraduate Day. It would be exciting if we had college towns all across the country celebrating undergraduate research by recognizing the week, having students speak at local service organizations, and local newspapers do feature articles on undergraduate research at your institution. It would also be very exciting if we had 50 governors declare April 11th as undergraduate research week. Would you work with your president, vice president for academic affairs and public relations office to see how your campus might celebrate this special week?

We are also very pleased to note that we had nearly 700 abstracts submitted for Posters on the Hill this year. This is a record number and about a 75% increase over last year. Undergraduate research is becoming a major learning strategy on campuses across the United States and CUR is truly becoming the national voice and resource for undergraduate research.

So see some of the videos from the event, please visit the following links:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158917  – Rep. Mazie Hirono
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158921  – Rep. Glenn Thompson
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158925  – Rep. Rush Holt