The University of Arkansas Honors College hosted its second-annual Research Conference Oct. 23, which served to display students work and connect them with mentors.
Students in the Honors College are required to research and present a thesis in order to graduate. Katie Wilson, associate director of student success at the Honors College, said it can often be a daunting task to get started.
“Our motivation here was to give students examples and the names of the people that can help them to start thinking about that thesis project from any stage of the Honors’ experience,” Wilson said.
She said she has been using the conference as a starting point for her University Perspectives students – an idea that has led to several of her students connecting with mentors early.
Associate Dean of the Honors College Jennie Popp said the dissertation research project is often a deterrent for students entering the honors college and is the number one reason students drop out from it.”
We thought it would be a great idea for two purposes,” Popp said. “To demystify the Honors thesis process, so everybody can understand it really isn’t that scary after all and have an opportunity for current students and former students to showcase their work.”
Popp said the conference functions to provide resources to students across different colleges and majors, helping them to connect to faculty members as well as to give them ideas and examples of thesis topics. The event also features breakout sessions for each college to address major specific questions and tips.
Technical Director Michael Zachary said that the biggest struggle the Honors College has faced while organizing the conference was time, particularly in regards to working around busy schedules of students and faculty members.
“Faculty are the number one thing we want to bring in here,” Zachary said. “We’re trying to introduce students and faculty together to try and get that bond for a mentor. That seems to be the seed of the program, to actually grow into a better relationship.”
As far as growth goes, Wilson said she sees an improvement from last year in conference attendance, but hopes to improve the organization in the future, particularly in the order things are presented.
“I think our format is much better but there’s been some confusion, so I think that’s one area I hope to improve – our communication with students,” said Wilson.
The research conference is part of a week-long event highlighting the honors college, something Popp said she hopes to see expand in the coming years.
“Instead of having one or two hours on a particular afternoon, we’d like to expand our honors week – and this is the first year we’re doing that – to showcase each day a different college,” Popp said, “and let them show the best of the best of what they want to put out for the rest of campus to see.”