Student History Research Symposium is April 16 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 16, at Saint Mary’s University. The event — free and open to the public — is sponsored by the history departments of Winona State University, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Viterbo University, and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. This year’s symposium will also feature a panel of seniors from Cotter High School.

In addition to the student presenters, Dr. Stacey Robertson, Oglesby Professor of American Heritage at Bradley University, will speak on “Hearts Beating for Liberty: Women Abolitionists in the Old Northwest.”

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 four 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 or four students each. The first panel session starts at 9:15 a.m., the second at 10:45 a.m. Dr. Robertson’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.