NEW CWU 'SOURCE' SET

May 16, 2005

Contact: Dr. Andy Piacsek (509-963-2723/fax 509-963-1799/e-mail: piacsek@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The first Central Washington University Symposium on University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) will be held on the Ellensburg campus Thursday, May 19.

This will actually be the 10th annual symposium showcasing student research at CWU. Originally called the Undergraduate Research Symposium, the first conference featured 23 presentations in 1996. Two years later, the conference was renamed the "Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression" (SOURCE), to emphasize the broad nature of scholarship at Central.

A companion event for graduate student and faculty scholarship -- the Conference on Graduate Student and Faculty Scholarship -- was initiated in 2002.

The new "SOURCE" combines both of those events. The goal is to foster an awareness and appreciation for all CWU scholarship, regardless of discipline or academic level. The symposium provides an opportunity for any university student, faculty, or employee who engages in scholarly activity to share the results of their work.

This year's conference will feature 168 presentations from 29 different departments, including art, English, music, philosophy, resource management and the William O. Douglas Honors College, along with the traditional sciences, according to Dr. Andy Piacsek, CWU director for undergraduate research.

The oral and poster presentations will be held in the science building, SUB, and Hertz Hall from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be two keynote presentations. Dr. Tanya Atwater, geological sciences professor at UC Santa Barbara, will discuss "Plate Tectonics and the South Asian Tsunami" at 11 a.m. Mark Halperin, poet and CWU professor emeritus of English, will give "A View of Creativity: Fact and Imagination" at 7:15 p.m.

SOURCE will conclude with an evening awards ceremony at 8:15 p.m., at which outstanding student presentations will be honored. In addition, two faculty members will receive "Faculty Mentor" awards, for their significant contributions to undergraduate research at CWU.

The awards and Dr. Atwater's keynote address are made possible by TIAA-CREF.

Both keynote presentations and the banquet will be held in Hertz Hall.

All SOURCE presentations, the keynote addresses and awards ceremony are free and open to the public. More information is available at the SOURCE Web site: www.source.u.cwu.edu.

For more information, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-2723, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.