Accepted Proposals

02. What if we showcased senior theses through a centralized symposium of presentations?

May 16, 2025

The collaboration led by: Amy Gaffney

With other collaborators: Maddie Carrera; Courtney Gibbons; Lisa Magnarelli; Corrin Rosenstein; Aaron Strong; Ian Rosenstein

Hamilton’s Senior Program is a significant capstone that should be celebrated. A senior symposium, hosted by the Oral Communication Center and the Speaking Advisory Committee, at the end of each semester would allow the campus community (students, faculty and staff) to learn more about students’ research across disciplines. Using multiple types of presentations based on departmental priorities (e.g., presentations, poster sessions), the coordinated symposium could provide a valuable opportunity to assess the communication outcome of the college. We can lay the groundwork now for a future robust celebration of liberal arts scholarship.

The proposal was submitted for CATALYST funding (under $10,000) and was ranked high with respect to the other proposals based upon the evaluation rubric.

The committee applauds the proposers for:

• Developing an excellent idea for how to showcase the way in which the liberal arts is already being practiced at Hamilton and to foster cross-campus dialogue. 
• Proposing meaningful change to our senior program, which would provide coherence and structure across the curriculum. 

The points that the committee recommends the proposers need to continue to develop include:

• Working through the logistics and scheduling, which might prove challenging, and details about how the proposal will be executive. 
• Explore models from other institutions (e.g., St. Lawrence has a festival day that includes performances, art exhibits, etc., and that includes the whole campus)
• Consider a small pilot with departments or students that would like to opt-in, and then thinking through how to then scale up, as well as considering how parents/families might be involved. 

From the committee’s perspective, the next phase of this project would include:

• Defining the program (when, where, how long, who) and then put a survey out to departments/programs for what they would need to be able to use this symposium
• Collaborating with Academic Council to figure out how to integrate the symposium into the academic calendar. 

The committee recommends funding the next phase of this proposal for the requested amount of $4,616 to move this idea forward for further aspirational design and development.