The Achieve Scholars program, launched by the Honors College in 2023, is already transforming how students learn beyond the classroom. Designed for incoming freshmen, the program unites students from a variety of majors to collaborate on research and develop advanced critical thinking skills.
“Ways of Knowing. Ways of Being.”
Unlike typical undergraduate research opportunities, Achieve Scholars combines two distinct areas of study — transdisciplinary analysis and research methodology — into an 18-hour course sequence.
Dr. Darren Surman, the program’s director and creator, said the intention was to provide a deeply meaningful research experience for undergraduate students.
“I wanted to create a four-year experience that was also based on a small-cohort model,” said Surman. “I knew I wanted to bring together two areas of knowledge into one, completely unique program of study.”
Transdisciplinary analysis takes students further than multidisciplinary studies (looking at a problem from multiple disciplines) and interdisciplinary studies (sharing methods between two or more fields to create a new discipline) and allows them to think completely beyond disciplinary confines altogether.
“Research methodology requires deep, reflexive justifications for every decision that is made during the research process. When students combine these areas of knowledge, they have to approach inquiry, problems and solutions in completely different ways,” said Surman. “The goal of the program is to provide students with the foundations that are needed to become responsible methodologists who can think about the complex problems of society in innovative ways.”
Students in the program also benefit from partnerships with both Parsons School of Design/New School in New York and Claremont Graduate University in California. Each year, faculty from Claremont teach classes with freshmen on transdisciplinary conceptual framework design, complexity/systems thinking and creativity. Faculty from Parsons School of Design teach classes with juniors in dialogical/ethical research, data collection and human-centered design/participatory action research.
Surman sums up the program’s approach with one of its guiding mottos: “Our ways of knowing about the world produce our ways of being in the world.”
“To see students from every major on campus really incorporate these ways of knowing/being into their work is incredibly rewarding,” he said, “both for me and for them.”
Year-by-Year Journey
Each year of the program builds upon the last: starting with conceptual frameworks, moving to literature reviews, then data collection and finally writing and publishing. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors present their developing research each year at UA’s Undergraduate and Creative Activity Conference, or URCA. Seniors prepare their research from the previous three years for publication by writing two different articles. One is for an academic audience and the other for a non-academic audience.
Graduates leave the program with skills for real-world application, including public presentations and manuscripts ready for publication, preparing them to become creative, effective professionals in any field.
Meghan Gonzalvo, a junior psychology major from New York, has been part of the Achieve Scholars program since its inception. She said the work is challenging, but the professors and pace of the program make it doable.
“Our work is transdisciplinary in nature, drawing on phenomenology and hermeneutics to understand complex, wicked problems,” said Gonzalvo. “These concepts were incredibly difficult for me to grasp at first. However, our curriculum allows ample time and support for comprehension.”
Ultimately, the courses in the program have changed her as a student, she said.
“We are learning more than just how to be research methodologists. Our seminar-style classes give us space to dig deeper into what it means to actively listen and learn. I have been surprised by how much you can gain from these experiences when you fully immerse yourself.”
Beyond Academics
For Gonzalvo, Achieve Scholars stands at the core of her Alabama experience. It has given her an “intellectual home with a real sense of belonging.” But it’s also been life changing.
“As a person, my experience as an Achieve Scholar has deepened my sense of curiosity. New ideas must be approached with open arms as learning is an ongoing and ever-evolving process,” she said.
“Aside from the academic value, I believe that being an Achieve Scholar can truly change how you go about the world. It is an amazing program that allows you to grow not only as a student, but as a human being.”
Gonzalvo encourages any incoming students with a thirst to elevate their academic experience to consider Achieve Scholars.
“This is a great place to start if you are interested in being challenged by ethical, meaningful research. This includes presenting your work at URCA and writing to publish two manuscripts,” she said.
“Learning these methods has shown me that knowledge is not just memorizing jargon in a textbook,” she added. “We must play an active role in our education, acknowledging our ability to shape the world around us. Achieve Scholars are taught the value of taking agency in our education and embracing the transformational aspects of knowledge.”
Learn more about the Achieve Scholars program on the program’s website or Instagram.