Student History Research Symposium is April 21

Seniors from five area universities will present the results of their historical research at the Student History Research Symposium on Saturday, April 21, at Saint Mary’s. The event — free and open to the public — is sponsored by the history departments of Winona State University, Saint Mary’s, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Viterbo University, and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. This year’s symposium will also feature a panel of seniors from Cotter High School.

In addition to the student presenters, Dr. J. Vincent Lowery, assistant professor of Humanistic Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin — Green Bay, will speak on “Looking for the Port City Prophet: A Historian’s Tale of Research and Revisionism.”

SMU and WSU have co-sponsored the research symposium for 10 years, with UW-La Crosse, Viterbo, and UW-Eau Claire joining in recent years. Each school asks senior history majors — and at Winona State, law and society majors — to write a senior thesis based on their original research of a historical question of their own choosing. In this way, the students actually do the work of historians, and in the process deepen their research, writing and speaking skills.

All symposium sessions will be held on the third and fourth floors of Saint Mary’s Hall. The symposium opens at 9 a.m. in Salvi Lecture Hall with a short welcoming ceremony and coffee. Students will present their research in concurrent panels of three or four students each. The first panel session starts at 9:15 a.m., the second at 10:45 a.m. Dr. Lowery’s talk will start around noon and will be accompanied by a complimentary lunch.