University presents first annual Furman Engaged!

What do a music ensemble in the library, undergraduate research presentations, the 2009 International Photo Contest and a Plant Banquet have in common?These and many more events involving every single academic department and almost 500 students all compose the Furman University's first annual Furman Engaged! which is being held instead of classes on Friday, April 3.

Furman Engaged! will celebrate the wide variety of engaged learning that occurs at Furman, including undergraduate research, internships, scholarly and creative activities.

Beginning at 9 a.m., the new event will be largely divided into eight overlapping 80-minute blocks of time. There will be 48 sessions that include oral presentations, panels, demonstrations and performances spread throughout the day, with a total of around 200 various oral presentations divided into four time groups.

Interspersed with these presentations will be four poster sessions. There will be approximately 110 posters and exhibits involving the work of about 170 students set up in the Herman W. Lay Physical Activity Center and in Kohrt Commons in the Townes Science Center, a quarter of whom will be present during each session to explain their research.

Some of the many other events also taking place during Furman Engaged! include the International Food Festival, planetarium shows and Paladin Nites in the evening.

A schedule is posted online at http://www.furman.edu/engaged/furmanengaged09.htm and a printed program will be available on April 3.

Furman Engaged! will begin on April 2 with a keynote address by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Ledderman. The CLP entitled "Public Science Literacy in the 21st Century," and will take place in Younts Conference Center from 8 -10 p.m.

Marianne Pierce, whose office of Undergaduate Research and Internships is coordinating the activities, said that the idea behind Furman Engaged! is an old one.

Pierce, the director of Undergraduate Research and Internships, said, "This was conceived by a group of faculty in 1996. It never happened, and has been on the back burner for many years."

"It's a great opportunity for younger students to see what possibilities are available to them," she said. "Students can develop an appreciation for what students in other majors learn."

Wheeler, the director of Integrative Sciences, said that while various departments have had events to display their research for years, a grant received last year acted as the catalyst to achieve a university-wide event.

"We have never had an opportunity to suspend classes for a day to celebrate these things," he said. "I can't think of a better way to showcase what Furman is about and what makes it unique."

John Beckford, dean of the faculty, welcomed the new event.
"As much as Furman has been known throughout the nation for its undergraduate research, we haven't been communicating as well within the Furman community," he said. "It was high time to set up an event like this."

Beckford authorized the decision to suspend classes for Furman Engaged! Although "the big concern is that students will see this as a holiday," he said that he is confident that Furman students will be interested in what is going on around campus out of respect for their colleagues.

As Wheeler said, "If people skip campus, [Furman Engaged!] will disappear and we will have lost something a lot of people have worked hard to create.