Well it has been a while, now hasn’t it then. Don’t think I didn’t hear that collective sigh of relief that vibrated across space-time. “Is he all done with that now? Has he gotten it out of his system? I don’t want to read that newsletter again…and yet…” No, no such luck, I’m afraid. It’s only that I’ve been a might busy these past weeks, as have many of you, I know, what with the 150-odd symposium abstract submissions we received.
This massive increase in symposium abstract submissions was beyond anything I’d ever imagined, even with all of the publicity and outreach that happened this academic year. And with this kind of inundation, it has just made sense to bear down and push through a whole lot of tasks that needed to get done, all in a short span of time. Many of you reached out to offer assistance and, working together, it would appear that everything is under control. At least, that’s what I keep repeating to myself, like a mantra. And it seems to be working, because I’m not getting too many angry or confused emails, so that’s a plus. I’m beginning to think we might just pull this thing off more-or-less successfully, as we always do, albeit with far less to manage than we’ve got this year, even on days when it feels the ship is grazing the shoals and in threat of running aground.
Best of all, after reading every last one of these abstracts, I can tell you that many of these UR experiences are of evidently high quality, with projects markedly more sophisticated than those we’ve seen in past years. Later this week, you can judge for yourself, when the symposium program goes live on our website. That will be followed by an email blast that goes to everybody and her Aunt Patty, as our task this week turns to giving our presenters an audience to present to, Aunties included.
But before all of that, we’ve got a symposium to pull off. And there’s still much (or, at least, some) that needs to be done before then. Top of that list is our penultimate UR Council meeting of the semester, which is scheduled for tomorrow, March 18, at 2:00. I’ll do my best to update the entire UR Council on where the symposium stands at present, and what remains to be done. We’ll also have need of lots for lots of volunteers to assist on the day of, which is, lest we forget, next Wednesday, March 26, and that discussion will be at the top of the agenda.
Thanks again to everyone for your collaborative efforts over these last hectic and harried several weeks. In many ways, this year has seen the most collaborative effort on the symposium of any year since we started this project, and I’m confident that the symposium will be more successful because of it. We’ve had an enormous pool of volunteers to draw from for reviewing and editing abstracts, adjudicating projects, moderating sessions, preparing students for presentations, and any number of other tasks that must happen in order for the symposium to be successful. I can’t tell you what an absolute delight it has been to lead this group and to see our efforts yield so much success, not only in terms of the symposium, but all of the initiatives we’ve launched this year. I look forward to speaking with you all in real time tomorrow, and I very much look forward to making this year our largest and most successful symposium yet.
Dan
