Siena College has appointed Dr. Raj Devasagayam, Ph.D. as the Director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. Devasagayam will lead faculty and students in this signature program, which supports research and scholarship opportunities for students across all disciplines.
Devasagayam plans to use CURCA’s strong foundation to expand the program and its opportunities. “I would like to achieve balance. Much like other national undergraduate research, Siena’s research has been led by science. I would like for that to continue to grow, but I would ultimately like to achieve a balance in terms of different schools being represented in our undergraduate research,” said Devasagayam.
CURCA has obtained a $50,000 grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation titled, TeamBILD. This program will bring students from each of Siena’s three Schools together to examine a single “big” issue topic.
Devasagayam hopes the interdisciplinary nature of this program will encourage students from all Schools to take advantage of what CURCA has to offer. “We are looking for students who are willing to cross boundaries, to go across majors, across schools if needed for their research. The goal is to build a program that complements the liberal arts education that we promise our students,” he said.
Devasagayam has been teaching at Siena College for 13 years. He was the Douglas T. Hickey Professor in Business from 2012-2014 and received the Jerome Walton Excellence in teaching award in 2007.
He has published research in the areas of dispute resolution mechanisms in customer/firm conflicts, not-for-profits, channels, brand strategies, sports marketing, marketing pedagogy, and corporate social responsibility. In 2015, he was awarded the School of Business Excellence in Research award for the publication of 10 papers in peer review journals, 8 of which were written with Siena students.
Devasagayam says that Siena’s educational opportunities for both faculty and students are unlike any other.
“What drew me to Siena was the idea that all of our scholarship is in service of our teaching. Everything we do, everything we learn through our research and scholarship is in order to enhance the students’ learning experience in the classroom,” said Devasagayam. “Siena has afforded me the opportunity to work with small numbers of students in the classroom, to build deep intellectual relationships and a sense of connection with my students.”
