VIII. EXCEL Scholars Program "The Pursuit of Excellence"

Lafayette's EXCEL Scholars Program enables high-performing students to assist faculty members with their scholarship. The purpose of the EXCEL Program is to encourage collaboration in learning between faculty and students. The work of the student must, therefore, be research-oriented and not administrative in its primary emphasis.

Faculty members supervising EXCEL Scholars receive valuable assistance in accelerating the progress of their own research efforts but do not receive a stipend. Proposals from faculty members interested in working with EXCEL Scholars are reviewed by the Academic Research Committee. Normally, faculty members are limited to supervising one EXCEL Scholar at a time.

Research projects involving EXCEL Scholars should be capable of scholarly publication or provide the students with an equivalent experience. Student honors or independent study projects, for which students are receiving academic credit, are not appropriate for EXCEL funding. However, it is anticipated and encouraged that students will pursue honors or independent study projects as a result of their experience as EXCEL Scholars. These projects may be extensions of the research experience or may involve techniques and knowledge the student has acquired as an EXCEL Scholar. EXCEL Scholars are expected to be prepared to develop posters or papers presenting the results of their summer work for the Fall orientation.

EXCEL research assistantships are available to full-time students in all disciplines. Those in the Humanities and Social Sciences are particularly encouraged to seek assistantship opportunities with faculty.

EXCEL Scholars receive a stipend of $8 to $10 per hour. They may work part-time during the academic year (8-10 hours per week) or full-time during the Summer (10 weeks) and the Interim Session (three weeks). EXCEL Scholars receive College housing in the residence halls during the period they are working in the Interim and Summer.

Participation in the EXCEL Program is an honor reserved for those students who have achieved distinction in their academic program at Lafayette. To be eligible as an EXCEL Scholar, students should have completed their first year at Lafayette (i.e. students are eligible to participate in the summer following their first year) and should maintain an overall and major GPA of 3.25.

A. Application Procedures

Any faculty member who is interested in obtaining an EXCEL Scholar should select a qualified student and submit a proposal to the Director of Research Services. Proposals should include the form which is appended to this manual and is available on-line, and the following information:

1. Description of the overall project with which the student will be associated;

2. Description of the specific responsibilities of the student and the educational benefits which the student will derive;

3. Qualifications of the student selected to participate in the proposed research;

4. Estimate of the number of hours that the student will work;

5. Proposals for students who will be working only in the Interim Session must include a discussion of what will happen with the project after the Interim (i.e. Will the student continue during the Spring semester either for pay or academic credit, will the student continue in the Summer, will the project be completed?).

6. A list of previous ARC support for the faculty member.

THREE copies, back-to-back, of the proposal should be sent to the Director of Research Services. EIGHT copies are required for summer EXCEL Scholars.

Faculty who have external grant funds which will either completely or partially support research assistants may apply to have the student brought under the EXCEL Scholars Program by submitting a letter to the Director of Research Services which outlines the qualifications of the student, his/her role in the project, and an estimate of the number of hours of work. Only students in the EXCEL program are eligible for the $8 to $10 per hour stipend and the free College housing.

Faculty who are asking for a previously approved project and student to continue need not submit a new proposal. Instead, they should submit a letter which briefly describes the work completed to date, new work which will be accomplished, and the specific responsibilities of the student.

Student employees are required by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 to complete a verification (Form I-9) documenting their citizenship or legal authorization to work in the United States. Student Research Assistantship proposals must include a receipt indicating that a Form I-9 has already been satisfactorily completed and turned into the Human Resources Office.

Students who are employed on campus at the time of application for an EXCEL assistantship must notify their supervisors of the pending application and its final disposition.

B. Deadlines

EXCEL Scholars may be requested to work for one semester only, the full academic year, the Interim only, one semester and the Interim, the full academic year and the Interim, or the summer. ARC will review applications for the academic year as they are received, beginning in August. Applications for EXCEL Scholars during the Interim session must be received by October 30, 2006.

Because of the competitiveness of the program, separate applications must be submitted for students to work in the Summer. Students who had been previously approved as EXCEL Scholars must be requested to continue if they will be working during the summer as well

Requests for Summer EXCEL Scholars will be reviewed beginning at the March meeting of the Committee. To be considered at this meeting, proposals must be received by March 5, 2007.