Students wishing to present their work during SU Showcase will have to apply for a fellows program by Wednesday or be nominated by a professor.

About 40 students from Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry will be chosen to become fellows and showcase their works April 19, said Steve Parks, director of SU Showcase.

Parks said the criteria for choosing student work will be highly selective.

“The fellows program was created as one means to recognize the quality work presented at the showcase,” Parks said.

SU Showcase will be a daylong event and include a ribbon-cutting of the university’s first rain garden, a talk by author Randy Olson, public debates, student presentations and a play by SU service workers and students.

Rachel May, coordinator of sustainability education, said the fellows program will create a sense of seriousness and focus that will call attention to the depth of the students’ research.

“It makes Showcase seem more like a real academic conference on sustainability,” May said.

All works submitted by students must fit into the theme of sustainability, Parks said, but there are no other limitations on what the works can be.

A subcommittee of two to four members from the faculty panel of experts on sustainability and the sustainability committee will judge each of the works, Parks said. The students who submitted quality work will be accepted and will present their works on the Quad, he said.

Parks already received about 50 applications from students who registered on the showcase website or contacted him directly through e-mail, he said.

He said he did not expect many people to apply to the fellows program in its first year, but students and faculty have been enthusiastic about the nominations. He also said he expects student interest to continue increasing because sustainability is an issue that directly affects them.

But Erin Devine, a sophomore communications design major, said she has not given SU Showcase much thought.

“I don’t know how many people are going to participate because I don’t even know what the drive would be,” she said.

But May said students should be driven because the fellows program is an honor.

The fellows program, Parks said, “validates student work in a fashion that allows what was once classroom-based projects to become something that can be placed on a résumé.”

 

Published on March 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm