Overview
The Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA) provides an outstanding venue for students from all majors and disciplines to disseminate the results of their research, scholarship, and creative activity, and to compete for awards for their work.
Thousands of WSU undergraduates—up to 25 percent—are engaged in high-impact learning when they are conducting research, pursuing scholarship, and/or involved in creative activites. These are considered "undergraduate research" when they are conducted in partnership with a faculty member. They lead to original intellectual or creative contributions to a discipline.
SURCA provides a campus-wide opportunity for students, from all grades and in all stages of research, to share with a large community.
SURCA: Name and History
Since the beginning of Washington State College more than a century ago, undergraduates have been a critical part of the university. As the state's land-grant college, research has long been a primary component of the role of the institution, whether meaning the creation of new knowledge or expanding upon previous findings.
By 2005, students in their baccalaureate programs were increasingly taking their place alongside their faculty mentors in research. Many colleges and departments began to host events where students could present their own findings; some involved competitions for awards. In 2007, the Undergraduate Research program in the University College at WSU, hosted its first WSU-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium, open to students in all majors.
In 2011, the latter event evolved into a new format. At the suggestion of Anna Maria Rodriguez-Vivaldi, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Spanish professor, it was given the name of Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, with the acronym "SURCA."
Not coincidentally, "surca" in Spanish means "tills" and "furroughs." In the case of the symposium, that word symbolically refers to the hard work that goes into the research process so that something new can grow and flourish. In the case of undergraduate research, there are many rewards: knowledge, confidence in one's discipline, an understanding of how research fits into the larger picture, experience with a mentor, how to apply theory learned in the classroom to a real-world problem, skills in critical thinking and communication, and, of course, fun, to name just a few.
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