Colloquium to Showcase Student Research, Creativity

The Wichita Falls community will have the opportunity to witness the wide range of scholarly and artistic research projects completed by Midwestern State University students and faculty during the Fourth Annual Scholarship Colloquium Friday, April 19.

Podium presentations will be from 10 a.m.-noon in Clark Student Center Wichita Suites I and II. Poster presentations and demonstrations will follow from noon-2 p.m. in the CSC Atrium and Comanche Suites.

The Scholarship Colloquium gives undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty an outlet to showcase their research and is a reflection of the research environment that MSU, one of 26 members of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, prides itself on cultivating in its students. Most of the projects are pursued in collaboration with faculty researchers and creative artists, and build on what students learn in the classroom. The projects may be traditional research that tests a hypothesis, which may be applied to solve a real problem, or they may be creative arts projects.

"The Scholarship Colloquium represents the ideal of what MSU, as a COPLAC member, is working to accomplish," said Dr. Ron Fischli, Dean of the Fain College of Fine Arts and member of the colloquium committee. "It is students and faculty working together beyond the classroom to prepare students to be independent thinkers." The colloquium also fits with the university's Quality Enhancement Plan, EURECA (Enhancing Undergraduate Research Endeavors and Creative Activities), by providing an outlet for students to display the results of their research and artistic projects.

Podium presentations include reports by computer science students about the development of the MSU2U mobile phone application; theater students on learning how to make a severed head for the Greek tragedy The Bacchae; mass communication students about the making of the documentary Legacy: Remember, Honor, Serve; marketing students' research on why international students choose to attend MSU; and research on aquatic insects at the Dalquest Desert Research Site.

Faculty presenting include Suzanne Lindt from the West College of Education on how middle students' perceptions of classroom goals, achievement goals and personal goals relate to their engagement in the classroom; and Assistant Professor of Music Alan Black on his study of West African drumming.

For more information, contact Fischli at (940) 397-4274.