Many studies illustrate the positive influences of undergraduate research experiences on student learning, attitudes, and retention in the sciences. At our institution, over 90% of the biology majors surveyed reported a desire to participate in undergraduate research, but only 3% per year have the opportunity to work in a traditional faculty-mentored setting. To address this discrepancy, the Department of Biological Sciences is redesigning 12 existing laboratory courses using the principal design elements of course-based undergraduate research experiences. The redesigned courses will span the entire curriculum and provide over 1,700 majors and premajors repeated experiences working on a real scientific problem--human impacts on the American River Ecosystem. We are using a multiyear Faculty Learning Community (FLC) to train and support faculty as they develop, implement, and peer review the research-based laboratory courses. In this article, we describe (a) our strategy for recruiting and engaging faculty to participate in the program, (b) the primary FLC activities with early evaluation data, and (c) lessons learned from the experience and plans for expanding the program across other disciplines and campuses.