The Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium committee is pleased to announce the call for abstracts for the 16th annual College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium. This event will highlight the research, scholarly and creative activities of students throughout the College of Arts and Sciences, and will be held on Tuesday, April 8th 2025. Please consider submitting your work for this event.
All students who have declared majors in a program within the College of Arts and Sciences are invited to participate in this year’s Symposium. Group projects in which some members are majoring outside of the College of Arts and Sciences will be considered by the URCA Symposium committee. Current students, as well as December 2024 graduates, are welcome to present their work. Presenters may choose a preference to give an oral presentation, poster presentation, exhibition or performance. All presentations should have a significant research or creative component; examples of such include, but are not limited to, summer research conducted at Ashland University or elsewhere, results of independent study projects, thesis work, literary readings or analysis, musical or theatrical performances and exhibitions of artwork.
Students wishing to present at the symposium should prepare an abstract in Microsoft Word and email that Word document to the URCA Symposium committee at au.urca@gmail.com. All abstracts submitted require approval of a faculty sponsor who is familiar with the student’s work and can attest to the quality of the work. Faculty sponsors must be copied on the email that contains the submission. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 7th, 2025. This deadline is firm.
A complete submission must include ALL of the following in the Microsoft Word document:
A. Name of Student Presenter(s)
B. Home Address of Student Presenter(s)
C. Class Year (e.g. junior, senior) and Major(s) of Student Presenter(s)
D. Name of Faculty Sponsor
E. College of Arts and Sciences program in which the work is focused (e.g. biology, psychology, music)
F. Title of the Presentation
G. Preferred Format of Presentation (poster presentation, 12-minute performance, 12-minute oral presentation or art exhibition)
H. Special Equipment Required (if no other equipment is needed, please indicate “no special equipment needed”)
I. Body of the Abstract (250 words or fewer)
J. Anticipated Scheduling Conflicts for Symposium on 4/8/2025 (e.g. COBE/COE/CON class meetings, athletic events or other commitments that cannot be moved on this date; if none, please indicate “no scheduling conflicts anticipated”)
Examples of acceptable abstracts from the prior years’ events are posted here on the URCA blog. If you have any questions about presenting at the Symposium or the abstract submission process, please contact Wendy Schaller, Director of the URCA Symposium, at wschalle@ashland.edu.
Questions may also be directed to members of the URCA Symposium Committee:
Dr. Mohsine Bensaid, Writing and Communication Center
Dr. Nicholas Johnson, Chemistry
Dr. Mitchell Metzger, Psychology
Kelly Meyer, Journalism and Digital Media
Dr. Cindy Perkovich, Biology and Toxicology
Dr. Christopher Swanson, Mathematics & Computer Science
Dr. Robert Wyllie, Political Science
