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ACM Symposium Will Highlight Students’ Research, Internships, and Experiences on Off-Campus Study

ACM Symposium Will Highlight Students’ Research, Internships, and Experiences on Off-Campus Study March 19, 2010

What do advertisements in the Moscow subway reveal about contemporary Russian society?

When your internship in a major U.S. city brings you face-to-face with a serious issue like sexual trafficking, will your academic skills and knowledge help you rise to the challenge?

How can small loans given directly to women entrepreneurs in African villages help empower those women and improve their lives and communities?

Can a student whose ancestors arrived in the U.S. a century ago return “home” and reconnect with his family’s roots in Italy?

These are just a few of the many questions that will be explored when about 30 students from ACM colleges gather in Chicago on April 16-17 to participate in the second annual ACM Student Symposium on Off-Campus Study.

The Symposium is a showcase of the impact of off-campus study on the education, personal lives, and career choices of students who have studied in countries throughout the world – Costa Rica, Denmark, the U.S., China, Tanzania, and many others.

In their individual presentations and in panel discussion, the students will report and reflect on the rich and varied array of research projects, internships, and cultural exchanges they experienced. To make this year’s Symposium available to the entire ACM community and friends, all of the presentations and panel discussions will be streamed live on the ACM website.

The students’ abstracts of their presentations provide glimpses into insights they gained through off-campus study and ways that their experiences can affect their plans when they return to their home campus.

For example, Cornell College student Sam Arnold, a studio arts and environmental sciences major who studied in Japan and Nicaragua, wrote that “what I really gained from these trips gave me a new lens through which to view my artwork and every ethical aspect of my life…. Japan caused me to question my philosophies on art on a much deeper level than I had ever imagined and Nicaragua showed me how pottery can be completely functional and serve as a way of life.”

Ana Lucia Marquez, a Knox College student majoring in international relations, went to Denmark to study issues of migration and asylum in Europe. “The experiences and interactions (on the program) brought me a more humane and comprehensive understanding of people,” she noted. “Due to this experience, I redefined my topic for my senior Honors project, and started seeking employment and internship opportunities on issues of asylum.”

The ACM colleges nominate students to participate in the Symposium. The students are joined at the event by faculty and administrators, some of whom serve as moderators of the panel discussions. Those discussions will provide opportunities for the audience to ask questions and for participants to discuss themes that emerge during the presentations.

Links:

• 2010 ACM Student Symposium on Off-Campus Study
• Symposium schedule
• Symposium participants and abstracts of presentations
• 2009 ACM Student Symposium
         

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