(Posted April 17, 2017)

Last year, student Ashley Pinamonti explains her LAS project.
Last year, student Ashley Pinamonti explains her LAS project.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. - Juniata College students will spend Thursday, April 20 explaining their research projects to their peers and to faculty at the 2017 Liberal Arts Symposium. These presentations serve as academic capstones to undergraduate research and scholarship work throughout their college careers.

            The Juniata Liberal Arts Symposium, which was first organized in 2006, asks students from most of Juniata’s academic disciplines to present their research projects. Oral and poster presentations will run from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. in buildings across the campus, including Brumbaugh Academic Center, Good Hall, the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts, Founders Hall, Beeghly Library and the von Liebig Center for Science.

            The day will also mark the inaugural firing of Juniata’s new wood-fired kiln, which was constructed over spring break by the college’s ceramics students and faculty. The firing will be going on all day at the kiln’s site behind the Brumbaugh Academic Center near Hickes Observatory.

            Regular classes will be cancelled for the day, allowing classrooms to be available for presentations.

            Activities will start with a keynote address at 9 a.m. in the Sill Boardroom in the von Liebig Center, called “Pollen: Nothing to Sneeze At,” delivered by Jeffrey Osborn, dean of science at The College of New Jersey.

            At 10:15 a.m., in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center, five Juniata students will give readings from their works of creative nonfiction at “Not Your Grandparents’ Essays: Excerpts from Creative Nonfiction Writing.”

            Also at 10:15 a.m., in the movement studio in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts, “Airborne,” an original full-length play written by Juniata student Tzipora Crandell, a senior from Needham, Mass., will be performed in a “reading” format, with opportunities to give the playwright feedback.

            At 11:15 a.m., in the Halbritter Center movement studio, six Juniata theatre students will give readings from their student plays.

            There will be oral presentations from 10:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the day in Founders Hall, Good Hall, Brumbaugh Academic Center and Neff Lecture Hall and Sill Boardroom in the von Liebig Center for Science. Students will display posters in Beeghly Library and Ellis Hall ballroom, from 2 p.m. to around 5 p.m. Also throughout the day, Juniata’s Honors Chamber Groups will perform at Founders Hall Amphitheatre (rain location is Pheasant Lounge in the von Liebig science center).

            Lunch, on the campus quad, is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Rain location: Baker Refectory)

At noon, the Juniata College Jazz Ensemble will perform at Detwiler Plaza (in front of the quad entrance for the Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center). Rain location: Rosenberger Auditorium. (Rain location: von Liebig Theatre)

At 1:30 p.m., the college will hold its Multicultural Storyfest, an event focused on Juniata’s international student population. The students share their stories through dance, song or narration. (Rain location: von Liebig Theatre)

Throughout the day, students and visitors will have access to learning about the traditions and meditative uses of the labyrinth located outside the front door of Beeghly Library.

At 2 p.m., in Sill Boardroom, 12 Juniata students will give an update on the Eagle Fund, a $100,000-plus, student-managed investment fund.

            --At 4 p.m., at the Stone Church of the Brethren, a group of Juniata music students will share solo performances at the Juniata Honors Recital.

            Student art will be exhibited in the lobby of the von Liebig center throughout the day. Art students also will demonstrate techniques throughout the day.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.