The annual Academic Symposium, a student showcase and professors and faculty presentation was held April 13 and 14. The 2016 Symposium began with a Keynote address by Dr. Susan Felch from Calvin College and continued with a full day of presentations and colloquiums.
In the RCA, the Symposium was broken up into four different sessions, beginning with a devotion by Assistant Chaplin Dr. J.D. Brenke.
Session I was comprised of various presentations ranging from theological considerations to social justice ideas. The Gould Lecture Series guest, Dr. Andy Johnson, spoke about holiness, justice, and the Bible. Dr. Stacey Barker discussed social justice. Lilly McPherson spoke about new ideas in policy and thinking; Elise Moran spoke on female leadership in western culture; Hannah Pepper spoke on the Boston LGBTQ community.
Session II dealt with the Liberal Arts tradition, and there was an announcement that there will be a new general education course for science majors to take advantage of in place of EMES. Student presentations included one tag-team effort where Cindi Hazelton and Shalomy Mathew presented the issue of snakebites as a global issue and how we can effectively utilize snakes and care for them. Jennifer Glen spoke about cardiac rehabilitation in African-American patients with coronary artery disease.
Session III showed presentations surrounding stabilizing blood sugar level in the human body by Andrew Hudson, advanced liquid cooling for mobile devices by Jonathan Lee, and sustainable and renewable energy in traffic lights by Rickey Crepin.
In addition to the RCA presentations, the Symposium also included Poster presentations in the Nease Library by various students on campus. There were Colloquiums put on by the Science Division, Social Work Department, Religion and Philosophy Department, Language, Theatre, and Communication Arts Department, and the History Department.
Session IV brought the Symposium to a close with a speech by Dr. Timothy Wooster, and a devotional by Dr. Brenke.