The Kent State Multicultural Center is hosting a new research program for African-American, Latino-American and Native American (AALANA) students and faculty members in Spring 2014.

The program, called Faculty-Student Connection, will partner students with faculty to conduct research projects pertaining to the partnerships’ fields of study. There will be a $1,000 budget given to each partnership for research and travel expenses.

Juniors and seniors will be partnered with faculty that have not yet reached their three-year review, while freshman and sophomore students will be paired with faculty that has surpassed their three-year review.

“Students will ideally be matched with a faculty member that has the same kind of interest area … or a closely aligned field,” said Oscar Ramos, the AALANA Initiatives Assistant Director. “The other thing we would like to do is link some of our multicultural students … with AALANA faculty who are in their particular topic or subject area.”

This year, the student-faculty collaborations will only last for spring semester, but in coming, years the collaborations can last the full school year.

Ramos said that this program will be mutually beneficial to students and faculty.

“The faculty is pre-tenure track, so they’re trying to get on a tenure track, and this will help their cause in getting to the status they want to get to,” Ramos said. “As far as students are concerned, it prepares them for the next phase in their academic careers.”

Participation in Faculty-Student Connection is completely free for students and does not count as a credit. However, it helps (students) know about the research process and that is a very important thing when students go to apply for graduate schools. They want to see that a student has done undergraduate research,” Ramos said.

In order to be eligible for the program, students must be an AALANA student, have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and have a declared major. Ten students will be selected for the spring semester program.

Students can email Ramos to apply at [email protected]. Along with an application, each student will need two letters of recommendation, a 300-word essay, a writing sample and unofficial transcripts.

Contact Erin Zaranec at [email protected].