research symposium

April 6, 2010 was a day of academic achievement at Edinboro University, as it was the annual Student Research Symposium, uniting scholars from across the disciplines. From 1 to 5 p.m., student's research was shown off in the forms of posters that were judged by a group of professors.

The Colleges of Science and Liberal Arts were present, specifically the departments of sociology, psychology, political science, history, social work, business administration and women's studies, among others, in the Multipurpose Room of the Pogue Student Center.

The graduate school, as well as the undergraduate school, were present and accounted for.

"I'm so nervous!" said sociology major Che'Az Lipscomb, who had worked all semester on her project concerning homelessness. She was waiting for her turn to be judged by the professor. It was done for her class, Social Stratification, entitled "Homelessness and its Impact on America."

"It's the main component of the class," she explained to the Spectator. Lipscomb had been working on it, as other students, since the start in January and was excited to see it come to a head.

After the symposium, a keynote address was delivered by noted Princeton University professor, Melissa Harris-Lacewell. This was, however, not before the distinctions were given to students' posters after considerable judging.

Walking away with that achievement, Professor Hass from the English department announced the following students' presentations as having earned the judges' acclaim, commenting on the atmosphere of "excitement and energy": Jillian Bona, Jonathan Malzone, Jessica Bennett, Joyce Tinsman, Stephanie Winters, Douglas Hughes, Heidi L. Stetz, Victoria C. Bocan, Daniel V. Rutkowski and Jeffrey Tyree.

Lacewell is a commenter who uses her skills with various television news outlets, such as the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and contributes to the Web site, The Nation.

Her speech focused on the 2008 president election and the various facets it meant sociologically and culturally. She began with apologizing for being a political scientist, saying that it often caused confusion with various people.

After her speech, questions were taken from audience members and the day of excellence in learning, intellectual stimulation at the university drew to a close..

Said Rebecca McElhatten, an English major that was in attendance, "Melissa Harris-Lacewell was an eloquent speaker and brought a level of enthusiasm that made her speech both enjoyable and informative. I think that her speech, while looking at complex ideas, was easy to understand and she brought a lot to the table."

I was a little disappointed with this, but I was rushed for time.