Written by: Clarissa Alberto
The Center for Learning Innovation and Research (CLIAR) opened its doors to students and faculty at Southern Adventist University this fall semester. Already, the center is supporting 12 research projects, surpassing its initial goal by seven, according to Matt Tolbert, director of CLIAR.
The center is located on the second floor of Summerour Hall, operating Monday through Thursday from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. It aims to provide faculty and students with research tools and support them in their research projects.
According Tolbert, the center’s primary objective is to promote and facilitate faculty research activities.
“We’d like to increase the opportunity for professors to do more research than what they’re currently doing,” said Tolbert. “There are some [professors] that because they have such teaching loads, they are not able to engage in research at the level that they really would like.”
The center also offers tutoring services for both undergraduate and graduate students in the research process, creating innovative methods for student learning, says Tolbert.
In addition, CLIAR provides support for research classes from different departments on campus, such as nursing, journalism and communication, social work and computing. The center is available for all majors.
“We serve the entire campus, although we’re housed in Summerour,” Tolbert said.
CLIAR employs students as research assistants to aid students and faculty. They assist in gathering and running data, identifying literature, coding information and keeping records of discoveries.
Some student workers have also been asked to co-author papers along with faculty. This is an opportunity for “students to engage with faculty at this level,” said Tolbert.
According to Brielle Grant, senior psychobiology major, working at CLIAR has been a great preparation for her academic career since grad schools appreciate students with research backgrounds.
Grant added that before CLIAR, there weren’t many opportunities on campus to obtain experience in research, and she believes it will open doors for many students in the future.
“I think for me, it has really opened my mind to the possibility of doing research while also having a job. Watching these faculty professors conduct research … it’s inspiring,” said Jasiel Castro, a senior psychology major who works at CLIAR.
Tolbert had the idea to create CLIAR when he found himself frustrated and lacking help with his personal research project.
“I was like, ‘Well, where do I get help?’ Like, teaching a full load … and then somebody said, ‘You know, what we need is a place where it cannot just help you but help anybody who wants to do research,’” said Tolbert.
After more than a year of completing all the necessary preparatory steps, the center opened its doors in August.
“It was a long process of going through and trying to make a good case that this would be a thing that Southern needed,” said Tolbert.
The center supports research projects across departments, covering a variety of topics, including social workers’ practice of self-care, exploring gender under-representation in nursing and the effectiveness of an interactive visual stick simulator for teaching. Tolbert said all the projects are ongoing, but some are close to being completed.
Although Tolbert is content with the location of the center, he hopes to relocate to a more spacious place in the future.
“Either expand, you know, knock down a wall or something, or move to a different location that’s a little bit more centrally located on campus,” he said.