Willamette University’s undergraduate classes are cancelled for a day every spring for Student Scholarship Recognition Day, but the classrooms are still filled with students, faculty and administrators listening, inquiring and sharing.
This time the students lead the classes as they present their academic research and creative work. Panels, poster sessions and music and theatre performances are among the offerings at SSRD.
The students’ presentation topics reflect a diversity of academic disciplines. “Exploring Asymmetric Organic Catalysis: Glucosamine Derived Catalysis,” “Dressing Our Hips: An Overview of Women’s Curves Through the Decades,” “Winning is Everything: Why Margins of Victory Do Not Matter for Presidential Success,” and “A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Forest Fragmentation in Monmouth Township, Oregon” are among the subjects students have explored.
At a recent event, university community members packed a room in Collins Science Center to hear five presentations on issues relating to food and agriculture in the 21st century.
Katie Grauel ’11 traveled to Mexico to research the country’s organic farm movement. She received a grant from the Lilly Project at Willamette, which helps students discern their calling in life, to interview Mexican farmers about their reasons for raising food organically.
“Presenting at SSRD was an interesting experience in that I was able to get feedback from a wide range of people,” Grauel said. “The attendees asked some great questions that I will continue to investigate in my research.”
Katie Rigsby ’11 is interested in creating more opportunities for composting on campus. She researched the options available in Marion County and how Willamette might connect with existing programs.
“Compost is the mother of recycling,” she said, noting that about 24 percent of the material in landfills is organic and could be turned into compost instead of being discarded. Rigsby also described the work she and other students have done to bring composters to several residence halls.
David Douglass, dean of Campus Life, says SSRD serves a vital function at Willamette by illustrating the importance of student research as a way to teach and learn.
“It gives students the opportunity to practice and refine the skills they already are learning at Willamette — research, writing, public speaking and the ability to present their work to an informed audience of people from disciplines outside their own.”
