Conference is a buzzword on campus. Whether it has been for a while or has only become one recently, I cannot judge. What I do know is that Seton Hill University (SHU) is like a proud parent when students attend or present at conferences.
To no surprise, SHU is encouraging more students to attend or present at conferences. Support from advisers and professors as well as help with funding student attendance is bringing a number of students to the realization that they are becoming professionals in their fields.
All over campus students are pulling together papers and presentations to submit for a variety of conferences. These gatherings can focus on specific topics targeting a small audience or more general themes that include presentations on more specified interests. Whatever the focus is, if there are openings for student submissions Seton Hill students are on the pulse.
By Karissa Kilgore,
Senior Staff Writer
Conference is a buzzword on campus. Whether it has been for a while or has only become one recently, I cannot judge. What I do know is that Seton Hill University (SHU) is like a proud parent when students attend or present at conferences.
To no surprise, SHU is encouraging more students to attend or present at conferences. Support from advisers and professors as well as help with funding student attendance is bringing a number of students to the realization that they are becoming professionals in their fields.
All over campus students are pulling together papers and presentations to submit for a variety of conferences. These gatherings can focus on specific topics targeting a small audience or more general themes that include presentations on more specified interests. Whatever the focus is, if there are openings for student submissions Seton Hill students are on the pulse.
Many of my friends – current students and recent graduates – have presented at conferences. In recent memory I know of chemistry majors who�ve presented in San Francisco, English majors who have presented in Ogden, Utah and New York City, a theology major with an interest in video games who has presented in Gainsville, Florida, and I�m sure there are more that I don’tknow about.
Even greater than the number of students who present at conferences are those who attend them. Including the local conferences held by the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education and E-Magnify, students attend conferences in different disciplines with a variety of interests all over the United States.
This may all be part of the elaborate plan we as students signed up for when we began our time at SHU. I�ve come to the conclusion that this conference buzz fits right in with the business of lifelong learning. A liberal arts education could not be complete without getting to know other scholars in our disciplines and listening to the latest and greatest ideas of our world.
In my early years here at SHU, I thought that conferences were things that only the professors attended. To me this meant we would have no class on the day they were gone (or maybe just different deadlines) and that this was just one more way that students were kept from the �real world.�
None of this is true, though. Not only are students taking notice of their professors� appearances at conferences, some students are getting on board the conference Congo line.
Why call it a Congo line? Well, when students go away to conferences and come back with new and exciting information to share, the idea of a conference becomes more appealing to other students. In the same way that a Congo line passes through a ballroom and dancers hop up and join in, students piggyback on each other’s experiences and knowledge.
All that and, well, conferences are really fun. Traveling and meeting new people all while learning more about something interesting – what could be better?
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