SMC To Send 2nd Largest Collegiate Contingent To Research Symposium

04/08/11 — April 15 Event to Be Held at Milliken Research Campus

SPARTANBURG -- Thirteen student and faculty representatives from Spartanburg Methodist College will take part on April 15 in the annual USC Upstate Research Symposium.

This year, SMC will have 10 presenters and 13 individuals associated with the conference - and the second largest amount of presenters from any college participating at the conference.

The symposium will be held Wednesday, April 15 at the Milliken Research Campus in Spartanburg from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Dr. Cole Cheek, professor of History and Anthropology at SMC, is leading a panel and mentoring four student papers on technology and perceptions about warfare in the U.S. during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Dr. Cheek has served on the symposium's planning committee since 2008, his first year at SMC.

"Being able to see our students present beside professors and have their work noticed has been one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my career," he says.

Dr. Mark Gibbs, professor of Religion at SMC, is leading a leading a panel of three students and himself presenting a paper, all on obscure Christian doctrines.

SMC sophomore Saray Espino, mentored by History professor Dr. Kathy Cann, is presenting in a panel on minorities in the United States.

Sophomore Jessica Ford, mentored by History professor Dr. Marvin Cann, is presenting a poster presentation on crime in the early 1900s in Spartanburg.

"The conference presents an excellent opportunity for our students to put their work out there in the open for everyone to see. As experts on their subjects, people ask them questions and they get the recognition," adds Dr. Cheek.

He adds, "Their experience at such a conference solidifies and reifies the importance of everything they do in the class room regardless of whether they are at a private two-year college like SMC or large four-year, research-based university like USC. It also allows students to network with academic professionals from colleges to which our students might transfer. I think keeping these really good students from SMC in the Upstate, where colleges collaborate to improve research and academics, is fundamental to the experience for everyone involved in the symposium."

The Symposium was created by USC Upstate to promote academic links between academic institutions in the Upstate. It's now in its seventh year and has grown exponentially since it began.

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 100th academic year of providing quality education to students in a Christian environment.  More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information on the symposium, please contact SMC professor of History and Anthropology Dr. Cole Cheek at cheekc@smcsc.edu or (864) 587-4633.