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Start Date
3-12-2024 4:00 PM
End Date
3-12-2024 5:00 PM
Keywords
Graduate students; Academic research exhibits
Description of Proposal
This session will describe West Virginia University Libraries’ annual Graduate Student Exhibits Award. The award, managed by our Art in the Libraries Committee, invites current graduate students to submit ideas for an exhibit to visually showcase their scholarship in new and experimental ways. These can present a visual evolution of their work, visualize their research and influences, or answer a research question. Graduate student proposals can be based on academic or creative research and lend themselves to visual interpretation with Library consultation. Awards include a $500 prize and help with design, installation, promotion, and coordination of a public program, offering an opportunity for exposure. The exhibits are hung annually in the Libraries’ Graduate Student Commons and are promoted in partnership with West Virginia Universities’ Office of Graduate Education and Life. The goals of these awards are to: provide a multidisciplinary platform for deeper learning, foster intellectual discourse and discussion, and demonstrate the breadth of WVU's creative and innovative activity. The award program mirrors our Faculty Research Exhibit award and has been successfully run for two years resulting in three exhibits. The exhibits have represented a range of graduate research at WVU from Sociology, Soil Science, and English. The public program includes a reception and short research presentation with question-and-answer session. The presentation provides graduate students the opportunity to discuss their work in a public forum that might be lower stakes than a conference. It also asks graduate students to make their research visible and more accessible to audiences outside of their own fields. The award program has the added benefit of promoting the Libraries Graduate Research Commons space which is designed for graduate student study space, meetings, and events. Feedback for the events has been positive at the administrative, faculty, and student level. The conference session will highlight some examples of the exhibits, review how we developed the award, the support we provide the student creating the exhibit, how we promote the exhibits, and our plans to continue to grow the program as part of an expanded suite of research services for faculty and graduate students.
Building a Graduate Research Exhibits Program in an Academic Library
This session will describe West Virginia University Libraries’ annual Graduate Student Exhibits Award. The award, managed by our Art in the Libraries Committee, invites current graduate students to submit ideas for an exhibit to visually showcase their scholarship in new and experimental ways. These can present a visual evolution of their work, visualize their research and influences, or answer a research question. Graduate student proposals can be based on academic or creative research and lend themselves to visual interpretation with Library consultation. Awards include a $500 prize and help with design, installation, promotion, and coordination of a public program, offering an opportunity for exposure. The exhibits are hung annually in the Libraries’ Graduate Student Commons and are promoted in partnership with West Virginia Universities’ Office of Graduate Education and Life. The goals of these awards are to: provide a multidisciplinary platform for deeper learning, foster intellectual discourse and discussion, and demonstrate the breadth of WVU's creative and innovative activity. The award program mirrors our Faculty Research Exhibit award and has been successfully run for two years resulting in three exhibits. The exhibits have represented a range of graduate research at WVU from Sociology, Soil Science, and English. The public program includes a reception and short research presentation with question-and-answer session. The presentation provides graduate students the opportunity to discuss their work in a public forum that might be lower stakes than a conference. It also asks graduate students to make their research visible and more accessible to audiences outside of their own fields. The award program has the added benefit of promoting the Libraries Graduate Research Commons space which is designed for graduate student study space, meetings, and events. Feedback for the events has been positive at the administrative, faculty, and student level. The conference session will highlight some examples of the exhibits, review how we developed the award, the support we provide the student creating the exhibit, how we promote the exhibits, and our plans to continue to grow the program as part of an expanded suite of research services for faculty and graduate students.
What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?
Attendees will learn best practices for:
Developing research exhibit programs at their library
Promoting exhibits and events for graduate students
Developing partnerships on campus for graduate student programs