Attendees of the UL Academic Summit enjoyed a buffet style lunch in the Student Union Grand Ballroom. Boards displaying undergraduate research outlined the perimeter of the room.
Zachary Araki/The Lion’s Roar
The university hosted the 6th annual University of Louisiana System Academic Summit.
The summit was held from Mar. 23 through 31. The exhibition for the summit opened Mar. 23.
Performances in the Pottle Auditorium opened the summit, followed by an art exhibit in the Contemporary Art Gallery. Students selected to represent the nine attending universities were not limited to their discipline.
“So what if we’re science, computer science or engineering majors?” said Shisir Acharya, a performer in “Scent of a Woman Reenactment” and sophomore mechanical engineering major from the University of New Orleans. “Let’s do this. Let’s just follow our passion, you know? It doesn’t mean we just have to stay within engineering.”
Friday, Mar. 30 was devoted to poster sessions displaying undergraduate research selected by each university.
“This gives them the chance, just like my undergraduate research conference in the fall, to go to a conference, meet other students who are doing similar things to have a chance to get the feel of going to a larger conference but in a better setting that’s more friendly to an undergraduate who’s never done this before,” said Dr. Julia Frederick, the Director of the Honors Program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. “It’s like easing into the professional field.”
Service-learning composed another aspect to the summit. During a break for lunch, Professor of Philosophy Dr. Barbara Forrest gave a talk titled “From Plato to Public Service.”
“I really enjoyed the breadth and the extent to which it was multidisciplinary,” said Academic Summit Coordinator and Department Head of Psychology Dr. Susan Coats. “I could go see a talk about computer programming and robotics and then go to another one and learn about the biology of turtles and go to another talk and learn about student driving habits with texting.”
The size and range of the summit differentiated it from other research meetings.
“We have a similar conference hosted at the school earlier in the fall semester, and it’s nice,” said Matthew Furka, a junior electrical engineering major from UL Lafayette. “It’s a similar thing, but the problem is that with all of the poster sessions, there’s only one and there’s only one presentation session. If you’re giving a poster presentation or you’re a part of the poster session, you don’t get to walk around and look at other people’s research.”
The summit served to connect students from around the state.
“It kind of makes you step outside of your bubble,” said Sarah Prescott, a senior studio art major from Louisiana Tech University. “I think a lot of times we think, especially in our departments, there’s nothing really outside of what we do or people we interact with every day. So, it’s nice to know that there’s other programs doing the same thing or like better things to challenge you and push you to do your best.”
The focus on undergraduate work aimed to shift university expectations.
“These summits give you the opportunity to see it’s not just graduate students doing all the work,” said Furka. “The undergrads are equally responsible.”
Participating undergraduates were not the summit’s only intended audience.
“It’s important to show people making those budgetary decisions and the community the value of research and creativity at universities which has really been one of the major purposes of the university is to be a place of exploration, research and creativity,” said CAG Director and Interim Department Head of Fine and Performing Arts Dale Newkirk.
The primary objective of the summit was to celebrate student success and develop the interest of undergraduates.
“I think it’s a real, tangible, strong experience that they would have,” said Coats. “You know, it’s one thing to read about an experiment that was done in a textbook but to actually see it and to see that people like them do this. I think it would be very, very inspiring for a lot of people.”
Each of the nine UL system universities selected five students to exhibit their best artwork in the Contemporary Art Gallery. Attending professors, students and their families visited the exhibit.
Zachary Araki/The Lion’s Roar
