Happy Friday! If Spring is the most wonderful time of year for UR, we’re now entering that season of great celebration and good cheer, when visions of bright colorful posters, gesticulating student presenters, and smart-looking publication credits dance before our eyes in great good anticipation of what, in my opinion, should be a bank holiday, if all were right and well with the world. “Symposium Day” does have quite the ring to it, no?
Indeed, plans are proceeding apace for our Big Day. The current abstract tally stands at 144. I’ve received an unusually high number of last-minute entreaties this year from students pleading to have their abstracts considered late. And because I’m a big, old pushover, I’ve been letting them all through. So the number has crept up just slightly, though only just. But after today, that’s really, really it. That spigot is getting shut off for good because, frankly, we’re bursting at the seams this year, and I don’t think we can handle any more, at least not with the little time that remains until our Big Day. But might it hit 150? That figure does sound grand, and something to talk up when we’re supplicating ourselves before the powers that be and asking for more, always, and ever, more, money to keep on growing this thing bigger and better than anyone ever thought possible at a mid-sized community college. Expressions of student interest sure do help on that front.
Let me not neglect to say an enormous THANK YOU to all of you who agreed to review abstracts this year. The process went along much more smoothly than I’d ever anticipated. Once they were all parceled out 10 apiece, there really wasn’t need to call upon every member of the UR Council to review them. I want to say a special thanks to those who reached out saying they were happy to help even if they weren’t sent abstracts in the first round. It’s been a lot of work this week, but with so many people sharing the burden, I’m happy to report that every abstract has been reviewed, and every student who submitted an abstract has either been notified of their acceptance or sent instructions for revision. By Wednesday morning next, we’ll have our final list of presenters. And then we’ll really be off to the races.
More exciting news this week, as I’m sure you’ve all seen by now (And how on earth have I gotten all the way to the fourth paragraph without mentioning it?), is that the Tallahassee State College Undergraduate Research Journal officially launched on Wednesday! As you’ve no doubt already seen, it can be colloquially known, with the approval of the Niki, of course, as TSC URJ, which does have a right fine ring to it. And my does it look smart. I keep revisiting the site just to sit and look at it (Really not joking, though I kind of wish I were, because there’s a lot to do!). But every time I revisit it, it puts me in an even better mood than I was before. And I’m usually in a pretty good mood. Why not give it a try yourself?
https://journals.flvc.org/TSCURJ/index
In all seriousness, this is a
huge accomplishment. There aren’t many universities that have such a well-designed
and executed UR journal, and no community college that I’m aware of. This is
huge, folks. To Niki and the UR journal committee (or perhaps the TSC URJ
Editorial Board? Think about it.), I stand in awe, and I know I’m not the only one.
Returning briefly to the symposium, by way of the workshop series, please everyone spread the word that the Public Relations and Workshops Committee will host their popular Creating a Research Poster Workshop this coming Tuesday at 2:00. Complete details are on the UR homepage as always, and all accepted poster presenters have received details about the workshop, as they will once again on Monday. (It is also the season of UR Spam, don’t you know.) Please encourage any poster presenters you’re mentoring to attend; it’s a really helpful workshop. And note, too, that there will be a repeat of it next Tuesday, which is good, because we’ve got right around 70 (count them 70) posters in the symposium this year. Also, lest we forget, there’ll be a 3MT workshop on Thursday, as well, same bat time, same bat station. Same way to tune in: By going to our homepage.
I think that’s enough for this week, everybody. Time to give some TLC to those essays I should’ve already graded, whilst I was coordinating abstract reviews. Please everybody remember that we’ve got a meeting scheduled for this coming Tuesday. My goal is to have a draft of the schedule done by then, and I really want to get everyone’s input on the schedule. With the symposium having grown as it has, it’s going to have to look different this year, so let’s have a chat about what it ought to look like, given what we’ve got to work with. Until then, I hope you all can get out and enjoy this cool and clear weekend we’ve got ahead of us. This time of year, we can sure use a little pleasant outdoor time, and we don’t get enough of that around these parts.
Dan
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