By Terry Gallagher
U-M-Dearborn
The Dearborn and Flint campuses are planning to celebrate student/faculty research collaborations in “A Meeting of Minds,” set for the Dearborn campus on Friday (May 13).
“Because of our emphasis on undergraduate teaching and learning, students at the regional campuses have excellent opportunities to work closely with faculty members on significant scholarly and creative projects,” says Jacqueline L. Zeff, dean of the U-M-Flint College of Arts and Sciences. “Since we initiated this project last year, we have discovered a great number of advantages to sharing information on how to make our student/faculty collaborations more fruitful, both for the students and the faculty members.”
Last year’s “Meeting of Minds,” hosted by U-M-Flint, drew more than 125 students and faculty members for seminars, performances, poster presentations and workshops.
“This year we have increased the number of oral student sessions, and have expanded the subject areas to include engineering and education, as well as the arts and sciences,” notes Donald J. Bord, associate dean of Dearborn’s College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters.
Research projects to be discussed at the symposium include “Geographic Variation of White-Throated Sparrows,” “Heat Exchange in a Cement Foundation,” “Geo-Archaeological Exploration of the Paleo-Indian Past of Southern Genesee County” and “Student Voices: A Reading of Prose and Poetry.”
“The response from students to this opportunity has been outstanding: the number of contributions to the oral, performance and poster sessions has more than doubled from last year,” Bord says.
In addition to the academic presentations, this year’s symposium will include an opportunity for informal conversation with Leslie B. Dunner, associate conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who is active in promoting music education for young people in the metropolitan area.
“Combined with tours of the campus, a luncheon featuring original student jazz compositions, and a closing reception at the historic Henry Ford Estate, the day should be a full and festive tribute to the scholarly efforts of the Flint and Dearborn students and faculty,” Bord adds.
