As the academic year concludes, the College of the Holy Cross will host its annual Academic Conference from April 22 through April 25. The four-day conference provides students with an opportunity to present the results of their independent work, and for the entire community to celebrate the relationship between Holy Cross’ liberal arts curriculum and the learning taking place in varied environments — from Study Abroad to the Worcester community; from research labs and art studios to libraries and field sites.
The programs, projects, poster sessions, and performances presented by students at the conference were developed with the guidance of faculty members. The conference showcases the independence, creativity, and intellectual discipline of students, as well as the role professors have played as mentors and model teacher-scholars.
Approximately 300 Holy Cross students from all classes are involved in the conference this year. Academic Conference 2015 is free and open to the public.
The conference includes works from the arts, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. Students will present an array of topics including:
- “Children’s Spatial-Relational Representations of the Day-Night Cycle,” Alison Franco ’15
- “Service of Sarcasm: Emotional Labor and Autonomy in a Unique Restaurant Setting,” Jaqueline Saltarelli ’15
- “Gender Recognition in Transgender Memoir,” Cecilia Wolfe ’15
- “Symmetrical and Within-Session Resurgence of Previously Extinguished Behaviors in Pigeons,” Bethanne Bartscherer ’15
- “Understanding “La Raza”: Contemporary Notions of Gender Roles and Chicana Feminism Among Mexican Americans,” Briana Mora ’16
- “Approaches to Late-Victorian Poverty: A Re-Examination of the London Charitable Organization Society,” Claire Mahoney ’15
- “Self-Representation and the Fall: Poetic Identity in John Milton, William Wordsworth, and John Keats,” Burke Smith ‘15
- “The ‘Gun Nut’ Perspective: Organized Responses to New Gun Control Legislation,” Matthew Dunn ’15
- “Experiences of Autism among Hispanic Families in Worcester,” Samantha Schuetz ’15
- “Synthetic Studies on the C1-C15 Fragment of (+)- sorangicin A,” Amanda Fyles ’15
- “Hidden in Plain Sight: Rhetorical Strategies within Deaf (Print) Literature and the Exclusion of the Hearing Audience,” Nina Batt ’15
- “Effects of Aging on Neuronal Complexity in Mice,” John Milner ’15
- “Sin, Penance and the Wound: An Artistic Exploration of Human Pain,” Lorena Sferlazza ’15
The conference will begin with a lecture by this year’s Fenwick Scholar, Nicholas Cormier ’15, a biology and sociology major with a premedical concentration. The Fenwick Scholar Award is one of the College’s oldest and most prestigious academic distinctions, named in honor of the late Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick, S.J., founder of Holy Cross. The recipient, selected by a committee on the basis of a proposal, designs a program of independent study leading to a significant research or creative project spanning the entirety of his/her senior year.
His lecture, “The Social Management of Risk and Compliance in the Field of Transplant Medicine” will be presented at 3:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library on April 22.
Cormier, who is from Agawam, Mass., spent the academic year working with numerous professors, including Renee Beard, associate professor of sociology; Selina Gallo-Cruz, assistant professor of sociology; Julia Paxson, assistant professor of biology; Virginia Ryan, visiting lecturer of religious studies; Jeffrey Dixon, associate professor of sociology; Daina Harvey, assistant professor of sociology; and William Stempsey, S.J., professor of philosophy.
The Fenwick Scholar presentation will be followed by the conference’s opening concert and reception on April 22 at 5 p.m. in the Hogan Ballroom, featuring the Venezuelan multi-instrumentalist Gonzalo Grau and the Plural Combo. The event is sponsored by Arts Transcending Borders, a new initiative designed to infuse the fine and performing arts in students’ academic lives and create new opportunities throughout the curriculum and the community by transcending cultural, geographic and disciplinary boundaries.
Other highlights of the conference include:
- On April 22, 10 studio art majors — all of whom are women — will showcase their work in the Cantor Art Gallery in an exhibition titled “X,” beginning with a roundtable discussion from noon to 1 p.m. The opening reception of the annual exhibition, which features the artwork of graduating seniors who have participated in the Senior Concentration Seminar, will take place on April 23 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The exhibition will be open to the public through May 22.
- Three music events will take place in Brooks Concert Hall. On April 22 at 7:30 p.m., there will be a Chamber Orchestra Concert. On April 23 at 8 p.m., there will be a Jazz Ensemble Concert. Finally, on April 25 at 4 p.m., Joe Dalton, the Brooks Scholar of the Class of 2015, will perform his senior recital.
The conference is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the College.
Academic Conference Program 2015 [PDF].
