Otterbein faculty and students work together to pose meaningful questions, design research, and prepare scholarly presentations and publications.

Research & Creative Work at Otterbein

Otterbein University strives to foster and sustain the highest quality of research endeavors. We are committed to encouraging scholars, students, stakeholders and partners in pursuing new and innovative research. Additionally, it is our goal to promote and support ethical responsibility, integrity, regulatory compliance and performance in all aspects of research conducted at Otterbein.

Faculty-Scholar Development Committee

The Faculty Scholars Development Committee plans pathways for the recognition and sharing of research and creative works by faculty; designs programming that advances the growth of faculty-as-scholars; acts as a funding agent for internal grants with a primary function of supporting research and creative works by faculty; and serves as a liaison to other campus-connected populations and to external organizations that support faculty scholarship.

The FSDC does this primarily via the Otterbein Faculty Scholars Development Grants, which provides funds to support full-time faculty at all levels of career development in scholarly and creative works activities related to their work at Otterbein University. Calls for internal grants are usually announced 3-4 times during the academic year. For more information, visit the FSDC Page in O-Zone .

Relationship with the Center for Teaching & Learning

While the Center for Teaching & Learning maintains a focus on the delivery of content to students, FSDC exists to support faculty in the pursuit of their own knowledge. Those goals, however, are not mutually exclusive. In particular, the curriculum (what we teach) is directly and indirectly influenced by instructional methods (how we teach) and scholarship (what we have learned). Therefore, a strong connection exists between the Center for Teaching and Learning and FSDC.

Relationship with the Center for Community Engagement

The Center for Community Engagement maintains a focus on outreach and field-context learning for students, while FSDC exists to support faculty in enrichment of their academic disciplines. We see these goals a interrelated. By convention, the advances in scholarship that faculty achieve can enhance external communities (academic fields) and internal communities (our colleagues, collaborators, and students). As a result, faculty work in curriculum and instruction become a natural extension of community engagement via faculty-scholar development.

Humanities Advisory Committee

Otterbein’s Humanities programming began in 1984 when we were one of thirteen colleges and universities, nationwide, to receive a 1984 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Our Humanities Advisory Committee (HAC) allocates the income from this endowment to supporting activities and publications in the area of humanities through classes, speakers, awards, and more.

Student Research and Creative Work

A variety of majors at Otterbein University include a research component. Here are just a few examples of student research and creative work being done within different disciplines at Otterbein:

Student Research Fund

The Otterbein Student Research Fund (SRF) provides support to encourage research and creative work among current Otterbein undergraduate and graduate students. To be funded, student research projects must be consistent with the definition and standards of scholarship established by the academic department associated with a project’s discipline. There are two types of grant offered:

  • The SRF-Research Grants provide up to $400 for costs associated with research and other scholarly or creative endeavors.
  • The SRF-Presentation Grants provide up to $400 for costs associated with travel to a conference to present research or creative work.

Applications for both grant types are evaluated by the Student Research Fund Committee three times through the Academic Year. For more information, including details on how to apply and deadlines, visit our Student Research Fund page.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Otterbein University recognizes the need for investigations in which human beings may serve as research subjects. The University also acknowledges its responsibility for ensuring that the privacy, safety, health, and welfare of such subjects are adequately protected. Consequently, Otterbein has established the Institutional Review Board committee to review and approve the adequacy of human subject protection.

If your project makes use of human beings as research subjects, it must be approved by the Institutional Review Board. Do not begin collecting data from human subjects before receiving IRB approval. Please read the IRB guidelines before seeking approval.

Please direct inquiries and applications to IRB@otterbein.edu

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

Albert Einstein