Stetson University will cancel classes on Tuesday, April 19, for its all-day Stetson Showcase – Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium, showcasing student research and creative projects from across the DeLand campus’s academic disciplines.

All student presentations and the keynote lecture are free and open to the public. Tickets are required for the School of Music concert at First Baptist Church of DeLand, and will be available at the door.

Dr. Richard W. Stewart, a retired colonel and Stetson alumnus who now serves as chief historian of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C., will give the lecture, “The Building Blocks of Research and Creativity,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Stetson Room of the Carlton Union Building, 131 E. Minnesota Ave., DeLand.

Stetson’s academic symposium has been held every spring since 1999, but this is the first time classes have been canceled to allow for uninterrupted participation by students, faculty and staff.

“This is a celebration of what Stetson is all about – the creativity and academic spirit that research brings,” said Associate Professor of History Dr. Kimberly Reiter, who coordinates the symposium. “There is nothing more stimulating to a person’s academic experience than to allow them to create independent research…to do something beyond an ordinary term paper. We have students thinking way out of the box!”

About 150 papers, posters, art portfolios, oral presentations, performances and power-point presentations showcasing students’ undergraduate research will be presented in nine venues on the Stetson campus throughout the day from 8:40 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In addition, the 13^th annual Festival of the Moving Image, featuring interactive art works, live music and video and animations created and performed by Stetson digital arts students, will be from 8 to 10:30 p.m. in the Athens Theatre in downtown DeLand.

Also, the School of Music will present parts II and III of Handel’s Messiah at First Baptist Church, 725 N. Woodland Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. The Stetson University Choral Union, under the direction of Dr. Peter J. Durow, will perform with the University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Hose, with a cast of Stetson student vocal soloists. The ticket prices are $8 general admission, $5 for seniors and area students; admission is free with a Stetson ID.

All students in the College of Arts & Sciences at Stetson do an intensive research project, and students in the School of Music perform recitals. The projects give Stetson students an advantage for graduate school admission and can be cited on students’ resumes. Many of the research projects are cross-disciplinary – tying together a student’s interests in two or three academic areas. Some of them relate to a student’s personal interests. Participating students compete for research awards that include a cash prize.

“It allows students to see themselves as a scholar,” Reiter said. “Our students are doing research that is normally done in graduate school. They’re able to go to grad school and blow the competition away.”

Community members are invited to sample the great variety of student work being presented. Venues on campus will include the Rinker Fieldhouse in the Hollis Center, 600 N. Bert Fish Drive; Elizabeth Hall/John E. Johns Room 315, 421 N. Woodland Blvd.; Flagler Hall Room 324, 434 N. Woodland Blvd.; duPont-Ball Library, lower level, Room 25, accessed from the Nemec Courtyard on the north side of the library, 134 E. Minnesota Ave.; the new Science Center Room 257, 136 E. Minnesota Ave.; Rinker Auditorium in the Lynn Business Center, 345 N. Woodland Blvd.; Presser Hall Room 132, 419 N. Woodland Blvd.; Duncan Gallery of Art in Sampson Hall, 132 E. Minnesota Ave.; and Hand Art Center, 139 E. Michigan Ave.

The Festival of the Moving Image, to be held in the evening, will be at the Athens Theatre, 124 N. Florida Ave. in downtown DeLand.

Printed programs featuring a full schedule will be available at the symposium. The program will also be available soon on the symposium website at: www2.stetson.edu/other/research/surcas.php.

For more information on undergraduate research at Stetson, visit www.stetson.edu/other/research. For more information, please contact Cindi Brownfield in University Marketing, (386) 822-7214 or [email protected].