The Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship (MKUHF), formerly known as the Undergraduate Honors Fellowship (UHF), is a two-year research program that is run by the Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts and Sciences. Five sophomores are selected each spring to pursue independent research projects of their choosing. Fellows work closely with faculty mentors at all stages of the research process and participate in an orientation seminar in the spring of their sophomore year and a weekly research seminar throughout their junior and senior years. In addition, Fellows conduct independent research each summer and work together to publish an annual newsletter, invite speakers to campus, and participate in campus-wide undergraduate research events. The program culminates with the publication of the senior fellows' final papers in the MKUHF research journal, Slideshow.
Weekly Seminar
There is a 3-credit seminar that meets twice weekly throughout the academic year. An esteemed faculty member directs discussion of the Fellows’ research goals, papers, and argument structure. Fellows engage the work of their peers through formal presentations and constructive criticism, and discuss their mentor partnerships. Class time is also devoted to topics central to the liberal arts, what it means to be a scholar, and learning about graduate school.
Mentor Partnership
To provide greater awareness of what it means to be a scholar, each Fellow works closely with a faculty mentor throughout the two-year program to plan and carry out a mutually agreeable research project. The Undergraduate Honors Fellowship seeks to actively engage its Fellows and their mentors in a successful research partnership; during the academic year and the summer, mentors and Fellows communicate regularly to discuss research progress, challenges, and ideas. In this way, Fellows learn from their faculty mentors, get advice, evaluate their own progress, and experience what working with a mentor in graduate school is like.
Summer Research
Fellows receive a summer stipend and must submit monthly updates on their research progress to their mentors and program faculty. Many Fellows use the summer as an opportunity to do fieldwork abroad or visit special libraries and archives around the country. During the final week of summer break, Fellows are required to return to campus for a 3-day intensive research and writing workshop.
“I’m a counselor in the Leadership Through Service pre-orientation program, where we do a lot of different service events throughout St. Louis so new students can see what the service opportunities are.”
