10th annual Academic Festival gets under way April 30

Skidmore's 10th annual Academic Festival gets under way at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, throughout the campus. Sponsored by Skidmore?s Honors Forum, the event is free and open to the public.

More than 250 students?a record number?will participate in this year?s event. Festival organizers note in the event?s program, ?We believe that this year?s Academic Festival promotes interdisciplinary connections and truly captures the spirit of academia at Skidmore, setting a high mark for our future aspirations.?

Highlights this year include the following:

• ?I Wanna Hear a Poem,? by six students in Professor Sarah Goodwin?s honors poetry class
  
  
• Environmental Studies capstone presentations featuring research on the Saratoga Lake and Kayaderosseras watersheds, and ?Projects and Perspectives Shaping Smart Growth in Malta, N.Y.,? proposed site of the new AMD plant, by Sophia Wiley ?08
  
  
• ?Job Satisfaction: More Friends or More Money,? by Jonathan Helmken ?08
  
  
• A film, ?How a Challenger Beat an Incumbent,? by Eli Turkel ?08, on the 2006 race in the 20th Congressional District
  
  
• ?The Antiguan Experience.? Eight education majors who visited Antigua in January present their original research
  
  
• Presentations by Katherine Kenny, Colleen Hughes and Rufus Urion, first-year students recognized for exceptional scholarly/artistic achievement from last fall?s Scribner Seminars
  
  
• Two documentary films on Sierra Leone by Joseph Kaifala ?08, a native of Sierra Leone who is majoring in International Affairs and French
  
  
• ? Fragile Beauty: An Artistic Exploration of Our Endangered Coral Reef Ecosystems,? by Courtney Mattison ?08

In addition, there will be a number of presentations in the Dance Theater, and a round table discussion of final projects by students in the MALS program.

Refreshments will be available throughout the day. Presentations are scheduled through the late afternoon. Click here for a detailed schedule of Academic Festival 2008.