April 20-21, 2021, the annual Student Scholarship Recognition Day (SSRD) was held across two days for the first time and adapted virtually for the second consecutive year. More than 2,500 guests tuned in to the 38 live sessions, where 250 Willamette students shared presentations on their work from the past year — either from senior thesis capstone classes, research projects in collaboration with faculty or independent works in fine or performing arts. Each student was given 15 minutes to present visualizations of their work using text, imagery, graphs and even live art and music performances.
Keeping with the tradition of SSRD, regular classes were not held in order to honor the exemplary accomplishments of the scholars, and to encourage fellow students and faculty to attend and celebrate the achievements of their peers.
This year’s recognition day also featured two special presentations from the 2021 SSRD Committee.
Montana Hunter ’21 and Angel Espinoza Robles ’22 led a student panel discussing the intersection of scholarly work at Willamette and the opportunities and challenges to the scholarly/intellectual/creative lives of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students. The panel also discussed topics of diversity, inequality, bias and inclusivity.
Professors David Craig and Juwen Zhang highlighted recent faculty achievements and how their scholarly expertise informs and supports the mentoring of student work. Just in the last five years, 29 faculty from 10 different departments have been awarded $7.2 million, which has supported 196 paid student research positions. Faculty leadership in professional networks is an essential source of inspiration, advice and partnerships contributing to work of Willamette's talented students.
