The Valente Center for Arts and Sciences at Bentley, focused on making liberal arts a vital, integral and challenging aspect of business education, received a grant for its Student Research Assistantship Program for the third year in a row from the National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF). The $5,000 grant will be used to fund undergraduate research assistants working in the “health and industry” field.

“This grant represents a healthy fusion between arts and sciences and business,” said Chris Beneke, associate professor of history and previous director of the Valente Center. “The foundation’s recognition of a business school’s role in academic research in the sciences should be applauded.”

“Students at liberal arts colleges often participate in faculty research,” explained Fred Ledley, member and director of the foundation, professor of natural and applied sciences and management, and director of the new Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. “We think that engaging with faculty in their research is just as important for business students. This is not funding for work study; rather, it is an opportunity for students to experience the rigors of producing professional-quality work. “

The Valente Center’s Student Research Assistantship Program, pairs undergraduate students with professors whose scholarship connects with the “health and industry” concentration of the Liberal Studies  Major.  Many students have used these projects as the basis for the “culminating experience” that is a required part of this curriculum. Several students have achieved co-authorship on publications in professional journals.

“We encourage the professors to make the work intellectually demanding, which results in an undergraduate experience on campus you can’t replicate with, for instance, an online course,” said Beneke.  

Current Director of the Valente Center, Gesa Kirsch, said she is excited to continue the collaborative work with the NBRF. “The Foundation’s support and acknowledgement of Bentley’s innovative approach to business education is a tremendous asset to student learning and research, and I’m excited to continue the collaborative work with the Foundation.”