FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington will hold its 11th annual Michael D. Wilson Symposium, a two-day, University-wide event in celebration of outstanding scholarship and creative achievements across academic disciplines, on April 28 and 29.
Symposium brings together UMF students of all ages to showcase their original and independent research and scholarly works and to share them with the campus and local community. Supported by a generous gift by Michael and Susan Angelides, in honor of their good friend Michael D. Wilson, UMF class of 1976, this year’s Michael D. Wilson Symposium begins with Arts Night, a gala of visual and performing arts, from 6:30-9 p.m., Tuesday, April 28; and Symposium day scholarly presentations from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 29. Events are held at various venues on the UMF campus and are free and open to the public.
“This day is full of the wonderful results of persistence, learning, creativity, hard work, cooperation, and mentoring,” said Theodora J. Kalikow, UMF president. “Empowering students and helping them realize their potential—that’s what UMF is all about.”
UMF’s Symposium brings together almost 400 students in collaboration with their faculty mentors. Students are actively engaged through the academic year in the process of project creation and development and in-depth academic research of their work, which is then exhibited at Symposium in the form of papers, oral and poster presentations, original student readings, art gallery exhibits and performances. Included among this year’s many topics are: “Downshifting the Auto Industry,” “Copyright in the Digital Age,” “The Success and Failure of Prison Programs,” “Mentoring in the Early Years,” “Lichen as Pollution Indicators,” and “Local Economic Growth through Community Scale Wind Power.”
“I congratulate all the presenters along with their teachers and mentors,” said Allen Berger, UMF provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “First held in February 1999, the UMF Symposium has grown into a wonderful tradition. With this showcase of scholarly and creative projects we are honoring our most deeply felt values as a public liberal arts college.”
Featured among Wednesday’s exhibits will be projects by the 2008-09 Michael D. Wilson Scholars and Fellows, recognized by the University’s Undergraduate Research Council as some of UMF’s best students. Their project findings, also generously funded by the Angelides, will appear in Thomas Auditorium in UMF Preble Hall from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Included among these undergraduate research projects are: the development of low-cost software for radio stations, the use of a new method of chemical analysis to aid in the reconstruction of prehistoric trade routes, the study of art as activism, and DNA sequencing of the local damselfly population.
As Symposium’s student presentations come to a close, the parking lot on Farmington’s High Street will come to life with what has become a UMF Symposium tradition—this year’s automobile orchestra performance. Composed and conducted by Philip Carlsen, UMF professor of music, “Incarnation” will feature a 90 foot circle of 35 cars. The two 15-minute performances at 5 and 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, will feature an arrangement of horns, doors, radios, revving engines and warning bells as the participants “park for art.”
In anticipation of Symposium’s day of scholarly works, Arts Night will offer a celebration of visual and performing arts from 6:30-9 p.m., Tuesday, April 28. Organized by the UMF Ministry of Experimental Arts, a group of arts-minded students, faculty and staff, the night’s events will include original musical, dance and theatre performances; student art and the senior art show at UMF’s Nordica Auditorium, Art Gallery and Alumni Theater.
Michael D. Wilson Symposium is organized by the UMF Culture Committee. For a complete schedule of events please visit http://www.umf.maine.edu/campus/docs/SymposiumProgram2009.pdf
