NSHE Mentoring Institute 2026 (MI2026): Connected Mentoring Communities: Scaling Research Growth and Student Success Across NSHE
October 7, 2026
8:15 AM – 5:00 PM
October 8, 2026
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
UNLV – Foundation Building – Blasco Room
4505 S. Maryland Pkwy.
Las Vegas, NV 89154
- 23 Days
- 13 Hrs
- 40 Min
- 45 Sec
About the Training
Led by expert facilitators from the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), this year’s sessions will ignite innovation and collaboration!
✅ Enhance mentoring capacity across NSHE institutions through the exchange of effective practices and evidence-based approaches
✅ Design and implement sustainable, system-wide frameworks to support mentoring excellence and research engagement.
MI2026 Goals
✅ Define and advance faculty mentoring and professional development as essential for student success and research excellence across NSHE.
✅ Leverage CUR frameworks, needs assessment discussions and shared practices to strengthen faculty skills in mentoring, inclusive supervision and student engagement.
✅ Identify strategies that will promote the integration of mentoring into faculty workload, recognition, and promotion processes and strengthen long-term institutional support.
It’s important for each NSHE institution to have representatives in attendance who are committed to growth and development in research mentorship within their programs, departments and/or institutions. Reimbursement for travel is available to those who will require airfare and lodging to participate. Click the “Travel” tab of the MI2026 webpage for more details.
Please complete online registration by Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
As this is an intensive training, space is limited. In the event more applications are received than spots are available, applications will be reviewed, and selections will be made based on academic and research interests and optimal group composition.
This is a draft agenda and subject to change.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2026
| 8:15 am – 9:00 am | Breakfast/Check in |
| 9:00 am – 9:15 am | NSHE Capabilities & Collaborations: Updates on Opportunities – Michele Casella, NSHE Sponsored Programs Office & EPSCoR |
| 9:15 am – 10:00 am | What Does Student Success Look Like? Mentorship, Inclusion, and Impact – Lance Barton & Joyce Fernandes, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) |
| 10:00 am – 11:00 am | PANEL: From Participation to Implementation: Insights from Returning Mentoring Institute Partners |
| 11:00 am – 11:10 am | Break |
| 11:10 am – 12:00 pm | Working Groups: Identifying Needs |
| 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm | Lunch |
| 1:15 pm – 2:00 pm | Part 1: Building Connections: Structured Networking & Sharing of Existing Programs and Practices |
| 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Part 2: Collaborative Connections – Addressing Needs by Leveraging the NSHE Network |
| 3:00 pm – 3:15 pm | Break |
| 3:15 pm – 3:45 pm | Sharing Insights from Structured Networking Discussions |
| 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm | (Re)defining Mentoring for Student Success for Different Stakeholders |
| 4:45 pm – 5:00 pm | Reflection and Looking Forward |
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026
| 8:00 am – 8:30 am | Breakfast – Apollo 3 |
| 8:30 am – 9:30 am | Strategic Plan of the Council on Undergraduate Research – Elevating Research, Empowering Community & Driving Excellence & Innovation, Lance Barton & Joyce Fernandes |
| 9:30 am – 10:00 am | Achieving Excellence: Guided Case Study |
| 10:00 am – 10:15 am | Break |
| 10:15 am – 11 am | Goal Setting and Planning: Institutional teams |
| 11:00 am – 11:45 am | Goal Setting and Planning: NSHE Networks |
| 11:45 am – 12:00 pm | The Final Bite: Reflections, Evaluations, and Continued Dialogue |
Guests residing outside of Clark County are eligible for reimbursement for allowable travel costs associated with participation in MI2026. Travel arrangements must be processed and reconciled through your institution’s travel policies and procedures. Once travel claims have been fully reconciled, NSHE Sponsored Programs-EPSCoR will work to reimburse funds back to your institution.
FOR HDRFS FACULTY, POST-DOCS & GRAs
Participants funded through the NSF EPSCoR HDRFS (Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science) project:
- Are not eligible for MI2026 travel support. Please use project travel funds already allocated for your participation.
- Exception: HDRFS graduate and post-doctoral students are eligible for travel reimbursement to attend MI2026.
Travel Planning Instructions for Graduate & Post-Doctoral Students
- Coordinate with your HDRFS faculty supervisor or administrative assistant to ensure your travel complies with your institution’s Travel Policies & Procedures.
- A Spend Authorization via Workday is required before booking any travel (airfare, lodging, etc.).
Room reservations must be made by September 8, 2026 to be guaranteed a room at the preferred rate!
Lodging:
Hyatt Place Las Vegas
4520 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169
Less than a mile from Harry Reid International Airport, this straightforward hotel is 1.5 miles from The Strip and 2 miles from the MGM Grand Las Vegas.
Offering separate living and sleeping areas, the bright modern rooms include free Wi-Fi and 42-inch flat-screen TVs, plus coffeemakers and minifridges.
The hotel offers complimentary parking and airport shuttle service. Breakfast is available. Additional amenities include an outdoor pool and a gym. There’s also a 24/7 market, and a coffee and cocktails bar, as well as a business center and meeting space.
Airport Transportation to Hotel from Harry Reid International Airport:
Lance Barton
Director, Office of Undergraduate Research, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Lance Barton, Ph.D. is Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research at UNC Charlotte. A biochemist and cellular immunologist by training, he earned his B.S. from Dickinson College and his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His research and mentoring have focused on immunology, cell stress, and cancer biology, and his own undergraduate research experiences inspired a career-long commitment to student learning through research.
Over a two-decade faculty career, Dr. Barton taught multiple research-embedded courses (CUREs) and mentored more than 80 students on individual and collaborative research projects. He has held a variety of academic leadership roles, including directing undergraduate research programs, leading an academic department and honors program, and supporting student development through honors societies and research-focused conferences. His experience includes organizing large-scale undergraduate research events, including the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium.
A national leader in undergraduate research and mentoring, Dr. Barton has served the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) for more than a decade, including as Chair of the Biology Division, and currently serves on the CUR Board of Directors. His professional interests include mentoring frameworks that promote student success, building communities of practice that support effective mentors, and leveraging undergraduate research to advance career readiness and inclusive excellence across the academic continuum.
Joyce J. Fernandes
Professor of Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio
Joyce J. Fernandes is Professor of Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Dr Fernandes teaches courses in Cell Biology, Developmental Biology and Neurobiology. Her research examines neural plasticity during the reorganization of motor systems in the fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster, which has many parallels to the developing adolescent brain. Dr. Fernandes’ research projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation as well as the National Institutes of Health. Dr Fernandes was co-PI on an NSF funded award that established the First Year Research Experience program at the institution.
Dr. Fernandes has served as the Director of Undergraduate Research since 2017, and in this role she has developed the First Year Research Experience [FYRE] program that provides early access to undergraduate research, provided workshop opportunities for faculty, graduate students and staff to enhance their impact on undergraduate researchers, facilitated the documentation of enrollments in independent study and research based courses, and established partnerships with institutional offices to raise the visibility of undergraduate research on campus and beyond.
Dr. Fernandes is affiliated with the Council on Undergraduate Research [CUR] as a representative in the Biology Division, member of the CUR-wide Council, and a member of the Advocacy and Partnerships Committee. She has organized and delivered multiple professional development workshops for early career faculty, graduate students and post-docs aimed at developing research programs that integrate undergraduate research experiences.
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- Nevada STEM Mentor NETWORK
- Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Mentor Resources page
- COEUR2_FINALv3
- MI25 Worksheets
- Nevada MI 2025_ CUR presentation
- Panel-Deck_MI2025
- NSHE Mission & Goals
- HDRFS Handout
- MI2025 Handouts
- The Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) Entering Mentoring
- HDRFS Broadening Participation Plan
- Mind Maps
“This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OIA- 2148788.”
Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OIA- 2148788.