Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / April 18, 2001, edition 1 / Page 3
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April 18, 2001 Meredith Herald Campus News 3 Conference promotes undergrad research Lresha Austin Layout Editor What constitutes the perfect spring break? Sun, fun, beach es, presenting research at a national conference. What? Presenting research at a nation al conference! This proved to be just the case for six students and two professors represent ing Meredith at the fifteenth annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Mar, 15-17 at the Uni versity of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington, Ky. According to Dr. Rhonda Zingraff, professor of sociolo gy, who went with the students to the NCUR. the students were basically “self-selected." She explained that they had already been working on papers and presentations, and their professors encouraged them to submit abstracts of their projects for consideration. She said, “Our student pre senters represented a nice vari ety of disciplines.” According to Zingraff, sophomores Monica Teigen and Meagan Chaney presented art projects, senior Sara Rashkin presented a project combining sociology and dance, senior Rachel Langley shared her findings on improv ing teaching method.s for stu dents with disabilities, senior Amy Fuson shared her research on body decorations (piercings. tattoos, etc.) and senior Maggie Tucker shared her research on the democratization of Franco Spain. "Our students performed so well in comparison with stu dents from other colleges,” stated Zingraff. “It was a proud moment for Meredith Col lege.” Zingraff was especially pleased considering that, as far as she knows, this was the first lime that Meredith students have presented at the NCUR. Langley commented, “1 found it interesting to see other presentations and learn about other disciplines.” She added, “Sometimes it is really easy to become focused on the area of your major and to ignore other areas, so this was a great expe rience.” Teigen agreed with Langley that seeing presentations from a wide array of disciplines was interesting. She especially enjoyed the presentations con cerning her disciplines of stu dio art and art history. She explained, “In the future I would prefer to go to a con ference with a focus on my area.” Teigen’s presentation enti tled Dale Eldred’s Light and Time Tower was ba.sed on the Topics in Modern Art Essay, which she had completed for one of her art classes. She explained that the project com bined color theory, biology and art history. According to Maggie Tuck er, who is majoring in history, one of the most valuable bene fits she gained from the experi ence was simply the opportuni ty to present- “I am thinking about becom ing a teacher, so this provided me an opportunity to practice presenting and teaching a sub ject I care about,” she explained. Tucker explained that preparing a 13-minute presen tation from her 45-page senior thesis proved a challenging task. She said, “I cut it down and then I took it to my thesis adviser Dr. {Michael] Novak, and he made more cuts. Next, I read it and made additional cuts to condense it into a 13- minute presentation.” Tucker explained that there are so many presentations list ed, so “if you want people to come to yours, it helps to have a catchy title.” Tucker, a 23+ student said that she did not really see any other 23+ student presenters, but she “wasn’t really looking either.” She added, “Fm sure there were some among the more than 20(X) presenters.” Tucker was able to attend most of the Meredith presenta tions. and. like Zingraff. she was impre.ssed: ‘The Meredith presentations were some of the best that 1 saw." AccoiWing to Teigen. there were a variety of plenary speakers at the conference including Wendell Berry, a Kentucky resident with many occupations includ ing environmental ist. farmer and poet. Teigen most enjoyed speaker Nikky Finney, a poet and professor in the English department of the University of Ken tucky. “She is an awesome black Southern writer who reminded me of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison ” she said. "She was so amazing that she left me in tears." she added. Langley explained that one night their group went to the Kentucky Horse Park, a com plex where horses are bred and stabled. This complex housed some Kentucky Derby win ners, she added. There they enjoyed dinner and some square dancing. She added that the confer ence had planned activities as well. “They offered tours of sights in Kentucky such as the Louisville Slugger bat factory, a brewery and a chocolate fac tory. Langley added that there were also informational ses sions on graduate school for any interested students. Zingraff stated that she hopes that in the future a wider range of faculty will anticipate the conference and encourage students to submit their work so that a wider range of disci plines wilt be covered. Overall, students and profes sors considered the confcrence a success. Zingraff stated, “Bravo to these women who spent pan of their spring break at this con ference and to how well they represented Meredith.” Meagan Cheney. Amy Fuson, Rachel Langley and Sara Rashkin enjoy their time in Kentucky. Photo sv Rhonda Zingraff Senior Sara Rashkin presents at the Undergraduate Research Conference in Louisville. Ky., during Spring Break. Photo b' Rhonda ZiMiRipi- Next week is the last issue of the Meredith Herald for the semester. Thank you for reading this yean The Herald staff appreciates your support*
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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April 18, 2001, edition 1
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