Graduate Research Symposium
More than 40 master’s and doctoral students from six Boston College schools will showcase their work at the Graduate Research Symposium on March 20 in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons.
Graduate students from the four host schools—Connell School of Nursing, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, and the BC School of Social Work—along with those from the Carroll School of Management, and the Woods College of Advancing Studies, will offer a 10-minute oral synopsis of their respective empirical research, followed by five minutes of audience questions, or make a brief poster presentation.
BCSSW Dean Gautam Yadama will open the convening at 8:30 a.m., followed by the poster session; oral presentations begin at 9:40 a.m., and are expected to conclude at noon. Students, faculty, and friends are invited to attend.
Deborah Hogan
The symposium—a renewal of an on-campus seminar last staged more than 10 years ago—was resurrected by BCSSW Doctoral Program Assistant Director Deborah Hogan and colleagues at each of the four host schools, primarily to “infuse a sense of community among all BC graduate students who sometimes work in silos with few opportunities to celebrate each other’s work,” noted Hogan, the event coordinator.
“Our objective is to bring together the graduate student community, and to drive a sense of belonging while demonstrating support for, and the value of, each graduate student’s research,” said Hogan, who views the symposium as a crucial element in ways to enhance formation among the more than 4,000 full- and part-time graduate students enrolled in the participating schools. “It’s intentionally a very diverse group of presenters, discussing a very wide variety of academic pursuits.”
Applicants were recruited through outreach to BC’s Graduate Student Association, and online alerts and flyers to each of the schools. Over 50 submissions were received, and presenters were selected through a blind review process by faculty from the four host schools. The oral presentations are organized by category, ranging from “Safety in Healthcare” to “Technology and its Role in Communications and Learning.”
“I am thrilled to see this event taking place on our campus,” said BCSSW Doctoral Program Assistant Dean Christopher Salas-Wright, who earned a doctorate at BC in 2012, and presented several times in the earlier version of this event. “This symposium provides a great opportunity for our graduate students to share their work with others, to foster interdisciplinary connections, and to build community across campus.”
“We hope that we’ve re-launched an event that will serve as an annual validation for BC graduate students, and a rallying point for them as a collective,” said Hogan, who is also a presenter and a doctoral candidate in the Lynch School.