University of Southern Maine

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USM Celebrates Student Research, Creative Activity During Two-Day Conference Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Catherine Manegold to keynote event

April 15, 2005

Editor's Note: All events are free and open to the public, and members of the media are welcome to attend. A schedule of events appears at the end of this release. Please contact Lynn Novak at 780-4200 (o) or 892-7131 (h) for information on any events in this release or for assistance arranging interviews.

How does arsenic affect the nervous system? When does public cell-phone use violate personal space? Should parents be allowed to genetically alter their offspring? Have teenagers changed since the 1940s? These are a few of the questions USM students and faculty will examine at Thinking Matters, USM's annual two-day conference of student research and scholarship.

On Thursday, April 21, and Friday, April 22, more than 200 University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College students will showcase original research and student-faculty collaborations at Thinking Matters on USM's Portland campus. Highlighting the two-day celebration of student achievement will be a keynote address on the role the press plays in education and fostering citizenship by award-winning former reporter and Emory University Professor of Journalism Catherine Manegold.

A seven-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and Pulitzer Prize recipient, Manegold's work with such publications as New York Times, Newsweek Magazine, and Philadelphia Inquirer includes news coverage of the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist attack, the fall of Marcos, and the Gulf War. Manegold also has authored a book about The Citadel's first female graduate Shannon Faulkner. At Thinking Matters, Manegold will deliver her keynote address, "In the Habit of Learning: Citizenship, the Fourth Estate, and the Educated Mind," at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, in the Hannaford Lecture Hall of USM's Abromson Community Education Center on the Portland campus.

Thinking Matters is designed to showcase the many original scholarly projects undertaken by USM and SMCC students and student-faculty teams. In all, more than 200 students will display nearly 100 posters and present roughly 65 projects on Friday, April 22, spanning topics ranging from the highly scientific to the deeply philosophical.

Posters showcasing the student work will be on display from 10: 30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22, in the Sullivan Fitness Complex, Portland. Student authors will be on hand to discuss works presented in posters from 10:30 - 11:45 a.m., and again from 4:15 - 5:30 p.m.

Students also will discuss their scholarly work during oral presentation sessions in various locations around USM's Portland campus. Oral sessions are scheduled from 9 - 10:30 a.m., 1 - 2:30 p.m. and 2:45 - 4:15 p.m.

Another highlight of this year's event is participation by several other University programs, including USM's American and New England Studies program, the English and Art departments, the Stonecoast MFA program, and "The Southern Maine Review," the University of Southern Maine's Journal of Scholarship and Creative Expression.

Published annually, "The Southern Maine Review" presents scholarship and creative expression from a variety of perspectives and disciplines from the USM community as well as contributors outside the University. At this year's Thinking Matters, representatives from the scholarly journal will lead off conference events with a "Panel on Democracy and Education," from 2:30 - 4 p.m on Thursday, April 21, in the University Events Room on the 7th Floor of the Glickman Family Library, Portland.

"The Southern Maine Review" also will close the two-day event with a "Book Release Party" from 7 - 9 p.m. on Friday, April 22, in the University Events Room on the 7th Floor of the Glickman Family Library, Portland.

All events are free and open to the public. A full schedule of events also is available at http://research.usm.maine.edu/thinkingmatters/

Thinking Matters-Conference Highlights

THURSDAY, APRIL 21

Panel Discussion: "Panel on Democracy and Education"
2:30 - 4 p.m.
University Events Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Family Library, Portland
Led by "The Southern Maine Review" Editor Jeremiah Conway, faculty panelists will discuss public education's ability to provide the necessary means of apprenticeship for democracy to flourish.

Student Panel Discussion
"Liberal Education and Citizenship: A Student Panel" 4 - 5:15 p.m.
University Events Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Family Library, Portland
Four USM students will discuss the relationships between the university, democracy and academic freedom.

Keynote Address
"In the Habit of Learning: Citizenship, the Fourth Estate, and the Educated Mind"
7 - 8:30 p.m. Hannaford Lecture Hall, Abromson Community Education Center, Portland
Catherine Manegold, professor of journalism at Emory University, will discuss the press, or "fourth estate," as an avenue for the free exchange of information and its role in the education of the masses beyond the classroom to foster citizenship.

FRIDAY, APRIL 22

Poster Session
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Sullivan Fitness Complex, Portland
Student authors will be on hand to discuss their research and poster presentations. Note: Posters exhibiting student research will be on display from 10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Poster Session
4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Sullivan Fitness Complex, Portland
Student authors will be on hand to discuss their research and poster presentations. Note: Posters exhibiting student research will be on display from 10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

"The Southern Maine Review" Book Release Party
7 - 9 p.m. University Events Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Family Library
Authors and guests will celebrate the release of the inaugural issue of "The Southern Maine Review," the University of Southern Maine's Journal of Scholarship and Creative Expression. Refreshments

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