The Undergraduate Division in the College of Letters and Science is pleased to welcome Leah Carroll as the new Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. The Office of Undergraduate Research is home to programs designed to provide undergraduates from across the campus with the opportunity to participate directly in research, either as apprentices on faculty-initiated projects or as the lead researchers on projects of their own design, which they carry out under the guidance and mentorship of faculty. The largest of these programs — the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) — provided research apprentice opportunities in 2011 to 2,207 undergraduates working with 483 faculty mentors from 64 different departments. In addition to URAP, OUR is also home to a number of other undergraduate research programs including the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program (SURF), the Haas Scholars Program, and the Stronach Baccalaureate Prize.

Leah Carroll replaces recently retired OUR Director Terry Strathman. Terry was responsible for the creation of URAP and its subsequent expansion into the large and thriving program that it is today. Using that successful program as a springboard, Terry created the Office of Undergraduate Research and oversaw the development of new programs designed to foster undergraduate research opportunities.

Leah served as Program Coordinator of the Haas Scholars Program for ten years, from 2001-2011.  She earned her PhD in sociology from UC Berkeley and her BA in sociology and Latin American Studies and sociology from Oberlin College.  Leah was instructor of Sociology at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York from 1996-2000. Since returning to the Berkeley campus, she has served as Scholarship Connection Program Coordinator and Acting Vice Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies for Fall 2001.