Inaugural Centre Symposium features student research, internships and creative endeavors

RELEASED: February 7, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College students will be given the opportunity to shine in front of their peers, as well as the faculty members who have guided them along the way, in the College's first-ever Centre Symposium to be held April 17 from 2 to 8 p.m.

Sponsored by Stephanie Fabritius, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, the symposium will serve as a venue for Centre students to present the results of their research, internship experiences and creative activity. The symposium will be set up like a typical academic conference—with registration, abstract submission, concurrent paper sessions, a poster session and a keynote speaker. Students' abstracts will be published together in a bound program. In order to encourage students to participate and recognize the importance of the event, the College will alter the class schedule: classes that normally run 90 minutes will last only 70 minutes, with all classes ending by 1 p.m.

Sarah Goodrum, assistant professor of sociology and co-collaborator on development of the symposium, is excited for students to present work to the community that is normally seen only by professors or classmates who are involved in the research or creative process. In this new setting, she wants students to view themselves as "authors of knowledge."

"Some academics refer to this as the discovery paradigm, where students feel a sense of belonging to a scholarly community and believe they're capable of creating and co-authoring new knowledge," Goodrum says. "The discovery paradigm is consistent with the College's recent strategic plan initiative to increase opportunities for engaged and experiential learning."

The deadline for submission of materials is March 1, only three weeks away. Students interested in learning more about the symposium or presenting can visit the Centre Symposium Web page by clicking here. Information regarding submission, FAQs and an abstract entry form can be found there.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.