Tim O'Neil
Director
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) / Professional and Academic Conference Endowment (PACE)

Office Location

 Norlin Library S430, 365 UCB,1720 Pleasant Street, Boulder, Colorado 80309

The UROP office is housed in the Undergraduate Enrichment Programs suite in the Norlin Library. If you are entering on the west (mountain) side of the building, take the right-hand stairs up 2 1/2 floors. Then take a sharp right into a small hallway and Norlin S436 is at the end.  If you are driving to campus, the closest visitor parking is in the Euclid Garage.

Alert: From May 2, 2024 to August 1, 2024, the UROP office will be closed for renovations and staff will be working remotely.

 

Hours

  • Monday (Office) 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
  • Tuesday (Office) 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
  • Wednesday (Remote) 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
  • Thursday (Remote) 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
  • Friday (Office) 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

I manage the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Professional and Academic Conference Endowment (PACE), which support more than 400 student-faculty partnerships annually while hosting "UROP's Curiosity Lab” experiential learning workshop series for historically minoritized students. I also collaborate broadly throughout the campus to promote student engagement and support mentoring. I maintain grant partnerships throughout the university, involving the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs).

In collaboration with campus and global partners, I enable transformative learning by connecting students to the academic and creative lives of their campus communities, cultivating culturally responsive mentorship and creating inclusive pathways with innovative campus programming. I promote the values of mentorship and student engagement as high-impact practices that enable empowering learning. As a first-generation student, I am sensitive to the egalitarian potential of a university education and consider it a privilege to participate in the academic and creative life of the global community of scholars.  Because inequities in higher-education persist, I recognize the need to increase efforts to make research more accessible and inclusive.

I have been developing university programming since 2008 and joined the CU Boulder community in 2016 as the Assistant Director of Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs, where I managed the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Professional and Academic Conference Endowment (PACE) while providing support for the Norlin and Boettcher Scholars programs. I developed UROP's Pathways Initiative in 2017 to expand opportunities and broaden participation on the Boulder campus. I created the Curiosity Lab workshop series and the Mentoring Guide to support students and mentors, the Sidewalk Symposium chalk art event to engage the community and the Lightbulb Moment Storytelling Initiative to recenter the conversation about student success. I also provide continuing support for the McNair Scholars Program. 

I've had the privilege to serve as a Division Representative on the Undergraduate Research Programs Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) for two terms (2020-2023; 2023-2026), currently co-chair CUR’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and have previously served on the Task Force for Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research in Undergraduate Education (2023).  Working with CUR colleagues, I support and promote high-quality mentored undergraduate research and creative inquiry with professional development for faculty, staff, administrators, and students.  In partnership with CUR, I regularly facilitate workshops on program design and management, culturally responsive mentorship, and advancing equity with inclusive outreach.

Prior to joining the CU Boulder community, I was the Program Coordinator in Oklahoma State University’s Henry Bellmon Office of Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research. Expanding on my role as a graduate assistant, I developed the Freshman Research Scholars program, expanded the Wentz Research Scholars, established the Ann & Burns Hargis Writers’ Workshop at the Doel Reed Center for the Arts (Taos, NM), led the Cambridge Scholars travel program, created the Undergraduate Research Scholar transcript designation, and facilitated a faculty mentor training program for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. In collaboration with colleagues at Oklahoma State's Libraries, I developed the Inform Your Thinking video series and the Undergraduate Library Research Award. I also worked with colleagues throughout Oklahoma on the statewide Promoting Undergraduate Research Conference and was recognized by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education for “Excellence in Undergraduate Research Programming” in 2012.

With the generous support of many faculty, staff and student mentors, I graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2007 with Honors degrees in English, History and Political Science.  I was awarded the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in 2007 and earned a Master of Arts, English in 2013. Participation in undergraduate research recalibrated my expectations for both my education and myself—enabling new identities and empowering possibilities.

Campus Communities

Selected Publications

  • O’Neil, Tim. "Partnering with Undergraduate Research Professionals." The Credo Second-Year Transition Guide, ed. Beth Black, ACRL, 2019, 33-35.
  • Upson, Matt and Tim O’Neil. "Freshman Framework: Collaboratively Developing a Set of Required Instructional Modules for Freshman Research Scholars.” Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian, eds. M.K. Hensley and S. Davis-Kahl, ACRL, 2017, 115-128.

Selected Presentations

  • O'Neil, Tim and Susan Mendoza. "Taking the Poster to the Pavement: How to Host Research and Creative Symposia with Chalk Art." ConnectUR, 2023 (Pittsburgh, PA)
  • Boettcher, Anne; David Artis; Tim O'Neil; Stephanie Ramos; Juliane Strauss-Soukup; Michael Springer; Susan Mendoza; Donna Chamely-Wilk; Karen Rodriguez'G and Lee Phillips. "Pre-Conference Workshop: Building Equity-Centered Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Inquiry Programs." ConnectUR, 2023 (Virtual)
  • Kolesnikov, Alexei; Megan Wood and Tim O'Neil. "Developing Mentor and Mentee Agreements Workshop." ConnectUR, 2023 (Pittsburgh, PA)
  • Anthony Kapolka; Tim O'Neil and Melodie Eichbauer. "Report of the CUR Task Force on Facilitating Methodological Diversity and Interdisciplinary Research in Undergraduate Education." ConnectUR, 2023 (Pittsburgh, PA)
  • O'Neil, Tim and Tim Raines. "Pre-Conference Workshop: Scalable Strategies for Advancing Equity with Inclusive Outreach." ConnectUR, 2022 (Virtual)
  • O'Neil, Tim and Tim Raines. "Mentoring Institute." Nevada System of Higher Education, 2021 (Virtual)
  • O’Neil, Tim. “The Privilege of Curiosity.” Featured Speaker. National Association of Engineering Student Councils (NAESC) West Regional Conference, 2020 (Virtual)
  • O’Neil, Tim and Joan Gabriele. “Who is Research? Multi-modal Storytelling as an Inclusive Pathway to Participation.” CUR Undergraduate Research Programs Conference, 2019 (Columbus, OH)
  • Upson, Matt and Tim O’Neil. “OSU Undergraduate Library Research Award: A Model of Intra-Institutional Collaboration.” CUR Undergraduate Research Programs Conference, 2015 (Norman, OK)
  • O’Neil, Tim. “Developing Dynamic Web Resources to Facilitate Undergraduate Research.” Council on Undergraduate Research National Conference, 2014 (Washington D.C.)
  • O’Neil, Tim. “Collaborating on a Statewide Online Undergraduate Research Journal.” Keynote. OSRHE Conference Promoting Undergraduate Research, 2013 (Oklahoma City, OK)
  • O’Neil, Tim. “Student to Scholar: An Undergraduate’s Pursuit of Discovery.” Council on Undergraduate Research Pre-ISSOTL Workshop, 2012 (Hamilton, Ontario)
  • O’Neil, Tim. “Anecdotes of Uncertainty: Inquiry and the Articulation of Self (Holistic Fellowships Advising).” National Association of Fellowships Advisors (NAFA) Regional Conference, 2012 (Richmond, VA).

Podcasts