Student History Research Symposium is April 17 at SMU

WINONA, Minn. — Seniors from five area universities will present the results of their historical research at the Student History Research Symposium on Saturday, April 17, at Saint Mary’s University. The event — free and open to the public — is sponsored by the history departments of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Saint Mary’s University, Viterbo University of La Crosse, and Winona State University.

In addition to the student presenters, Dr. Donna Gabaccia, director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, will speak on “Imagining Nations of Immigrants.”

Saint Mary’s University and Winona State University have co-sponsored a student research symposium for nine years, with UW-La Crosse, Viterbo University, and UW-Eau Claire joining in the past three years. Each school asks senior history majors — and at Winona State, law and society majors — to write a senior thesis based on their original research of a historical question of their own choosing. In this way, the students actually do the work of historians, and in the process, deepen their research, writing and speaking skills.

All symposium sessions will be held on the third and fourth floors of Saint Mary’s Hall. The symposium opens at 9 a.m. in Salvi Lecture Hall (Room 332) with a short welcoming ceremony and coffee. Students will present their research in concurrent panels of three students each. The first panel session starts at 9:15 a.m., the second at 10:45 a.m., the third at 1:15 p.m. Dr. Gabaccia’s talk will start around noon and will be accompanied by a complimentary lunch.

For further information, contact Dr. Tycho de Boer, SMU Department of History, at (507) 457-6995 or tdeboer@smumn.edu.