University Writing & Research Symposium Held This Week

Over 600 first-year students slated to exchange insights and advice in the 6th Annual Writing & Research Symposium, a campus-wide capstone event sponsored by the University Writing Program. In addition, the Symposium features a Keystone Lecture by the Hon. Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Strategies for the Global Environment. Ms Claussen's lecture, entitled "Answering the Climate Challenge: Reflections on the Journey," is co-sponsored by the Women's Leadership Program and the University Writing Program.

2009 Symposium Poster Design by Mi Sun Kwon

Where & When
The Foggy Bottom & Mt. Vernon Campuses
of The George Washington University
Thursday-Friday, April 23-4.

The 6th annual University Writing and Research Symposium will take place on Thursday, April 23 through Friday, April 24 on the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses of The George Washington University. Over the two-day event 170 student-panelists will be speaking to a combined anticipated audience of over 600 people.

In panels of three of four speakers, in roundtable discussions, in research poster sessions, or even in dramatic readings of original works, students in the first-year writing course (UW20) present their research and writing in a public forum that includes fellow students, faculty, and members of the broader DC community.

The event offers student-researchers the opportunity to present their research in order to see how the concerns they address in their own projects connect with concerns of other researchers and matters of public interest. Since students present their work while it is still in progress, get the opportunity to see what their peers in other first-year writing classes are doing and to get useful feedback on their work. As a result, discussion at the Symposium focuses as much on the uses, values, and processes of research and research-based writing, as it does on the topics of the research projects themselves.

Dean of Freshmen Frederic Siegel describes the Symposium as "one of the year's best programs," noting that "the intellectual engagement of freshmen is one of [the University's] most important priorities and the Symposium works perfectly in this regard."

The 2009 Program includes panels on a wide variety of topics, including "Faith, Doubts, & Suspicions," "Enforcing Moralities," "Personal Transgressions," "Labor Issues," "Rethinking Constitutional Democracy," "Traumatic Events," "Holocaust Studies," "Cold War Comics," and "The Packaging and Promotion of (Post)Mdern Identities" to name just a few.

On Thursday evening at 6:45, at the Eileen Claussen lecture, student Mi Sun Kwon will be recognized as the winner of the 2009 UWRS Poster Design Contest. Congratulations are also due to runner-up Cynthia Figueroa.

The Symposium is co-directed by Professors Kathy Larsen and Michael Svoboda, of the University Writing Program.

The Spring 2009 University Writing and Research Symposium was organized by the First-Year Writing Faculty of the University Writing Program, with sponsorship and support from the UWP, the Elizabeth J Somers Women's Leadership Program, Mount Vernon Campus Life, Gelman Library, the University Bookstore, and the Office of the Dean of Freshmen.

For more information on the Symposium, please visit the Symposium Website at http://www.gwu.edu/~capstone/symposium.htm.