While there is no date on the first issue of The Researcher, Gary Render, NRMERA’s third president, remembers that the first issue came out in 1984 during his tenure. In interviews with NRMERA’s founding members, all agree that the organization and subsequent journal were formed to provide a safe, non-threatening forum for novice scholars to publish and present their research. “It’s a safe place to share ideas and give junior faculty and graduate students the opportunity to communicate about research and scholarship,” Joe Stepans stated.
Volume One, Number One was printed on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper, folded twice so the outside cover should be used for an address label. It was typeset with a dot-matrix printer and printed on a copy machine. A simple sketch of the Rocky Mountains was tucked in the upper left hand corner of the cover.
Starting as a newsletter, The Researcher has come a long way in both content and design. It is still printed on bond paper, but more recently issues sport a card stock cover with professional layout and graphics. Content and quality have also greatly improved over the past 22 years according to Ace Cossairt, the first secretary-treasurer of NRMERA. He affirmed that “the focus has not changed in that the organization and journal represents a nurturing culture that helps people dive in and do research.” The commitment to mentor and provide a foundation for beginning researchers will continue.