There are many opportunities for faculty and staff to get involved with the Spring Student Symposium.

Ways to Participate

Sponsor a Student Presenter 

If you have students from a fall, winter, or even a spring course whose work is intriguing and presentation or performance friendly, please encourage them to consider participating in the Spring Student Symposium. 

  • Reassure them that students of all years and subject areas bring a rich diversity to the symposium, and nudge them to submit an application. 
  • Support them in the application process by discussing and/or reviewing their project abstract. 
  • The symposium committee will keep faculty sponsors and applying students updated on the plans for the symposium day in April. 

We look forward to seeing you at the symposium to support your students and many others as they share their work. Classes are not scheduled on the day of the symposium so that every member of the faculty may attend and celebrate students as they share their learning publicly.

Serve on a Committee

In addition to encouraging students to participate and sponsoring their applications, faculty and staff are welcome to serve on the symposium committee, its sessions subcommittee (putting together the student panels), or at the symposium as a moderator of one of the sessions. If interested in any of these activities, please email sym@middlebury.edu, attention symposium co-chairs Mike Sheridan and Amy Morsman. 

Presentations

The symposium is open to students of all years, and is intended to showcase all forms of student intellectual inquiry, including the following:

  • Independent research with a faculty or staff adviser
  • Individual project work within a course (fall, winter, or spring)
  • Class wide research or group projects
  • Summer or winter internships involving the meaningful exploration of a topic
  • Creative work, including studio art and dramatic or musical performance
  • Research conducted while studying abroad

Most presentation formats include 15-minute oral presentations, 15-minute music, dance, film, and theater presentations, staffed poster sessions, and artwork displays.

Class Presentations

While most sessions will involve four individual, 15-minute presentations by students from different disciplines on a common theme, forming a 75-minute session, some sessions can feature an entire class or large group presenting on a collective project. Such presentations can fill an entire 75-minute session, with one presentation involving several voices or multiple individual 15-minute presentations on the shared topic.

Language Policy

Students are invited to submit presentations conducted in any language. We will, however, require that non-English presentations include English translations in a format appropriate to the presentation’s structure, such as slide subtitles.

Location

McCardell Bicentennial Hall is the primary event space for student presentations. Johnson Memorial Building may host art displays. Some students may elect to compose digital presentations or pre-record their oral presentations; those projects will be posted on the symposium website for the symposium day in April.  

Deadlines

Students and faculty begin hearing about the symposium in December and January, via email and posters. Students who wish to participate must complete the symposium application, due in late February. Each completed application must include a designated faculty or staff sponsor.

See the current application deadline information. Students and their sponsors will be notified of their presentation time and grouping in late March.

Contact the Committee

Please feel free to speak with any member of our planning committee to share questions, ideas, or feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

A

Sponsoring students for the symposium is a natural extension of doing research with them. By agreeing to sponsor a student you are stating that their research/creative work is worthy of inclusion in the symposium. You are also agreeing to provide your students with mentorship and advice regarding the best way to organize and present their work, and agreeing to serve as an editor of the students’ final research abstract for inclusion in the symposium program.

A

Class projects are allowed. Please ask one student to serve as the contact person.

A

Faculty and staff are warmly invited to attend the Spring Student Symposium. We also ask you to encourage students to participate as presenters, and ask faculty and staff who are familiar with their work to agree to sponsor them. Finally, faculty and staff will be invited to serve as panel moderators/facilitators for presentation sessions that pertain to their area of expertise.

A

No. Although the research of many of our student presenters will be closely connected with that of their faculty mentors, this symposium is for the students to present their work. However, when appropriate, students should acknowledge all persons involved with the project and also indicate any grants or sources of funding.