McGinnis to head research conference
Dr. Michael McGinnis will head Georgia College & State University’s Sixth Annual Interdisciplinary Research conference.
The Interdisciplinary Research conference provides students with the opportunity to receive recognition for academic work completed at GC&SU. The conference is looking for papers from any discipline to present, scholarly research, scholarly activities, programs, competitive papers and thematic panels.
Dr. Michael McGinnis, head of the Department of Chemistry and Physics, was asked this year to lead the conference. McGinnis is heavily involved in the science community. He is also involved as the advisor to the Chemistry Club, executive director of the Georgia Junior Academy of Science, chair-elect of the Middle Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society and a council member of the Georgia Academy of Science.
“This is my first year as coordinator. They asked me to and I agreed to do it. I have had students present at local, regional and national meetings. I have a lot of experience attending other conferences,” McGinnis said. “As a scientist, we share our research a lot. I think that was one of the things that they wanted, they wanted someone who had a lot of experiences with other conferences to help out and give imput.”
McGinnis thinks the conference really reflects the liberal arts mission of GC&SU.
“Since we became a public liberal arts university there has been more emphasis on doing research. But realize that we are still a teaching institution,” McGinnis said. “This is a support of teaching and learning how to apply the techniques you learn in a classroom. Once you have applied those techniques, especially in research, you can then share those results with others.”
Dr. Robin Harris, director of the office of Experiential Learning and assistant professor in the Department of Government & Sociology, is excited about the new direction Dr. McGinnis will take with the program.
“Dr. McGinnis has a reputation for being a thorough planner who believes strongly in student research. We believe that he brings a lot of talent and enthusiasm to the conference planning that will lift the conference to another level as we strive to increase the profile of the conference and encourage diverse participation,” Harris said.
McGinnis is looking for strong support from every department.
“The past years we have had some excellent presentations by all of our students and had just about every department have at least one paper presented the last 5 years that we have done this,” McGinnis said. “We want a more broad interdisciplinary conference this year, where every department is represented.”
Students will be able to get their ideas to a much larger audience than just others within their majors. There will be several sessions for students to present in, including one oral session where students present in the Arts & Science auditorium and one session where students may informally present posters to students and faculty.
McGinnis has strong feelings about the way GC&SU should view the conference. “We really want this to be a celebration of scholarships,” McGinnis said. “A celebration of scholarships is what the Interdisciplinary Research Conference should be at GC&SU.”
The Interdisciplinary Research conference will be held March 18, at the Arts and Science Auditorium. The deadline for abstract submission is Jan. 15. The keynote speaker for the conference is Dr. Barbara Byrne, vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. The topic will be “Habits of the Mind: On Being a Scientist.” For abstract submission information, log on to www.gcsu.edu/oel.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 30 2002. Filed under News.
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