By: Alvin Wilson
Staff Writer

Last week was the 11th annual Academic Excellence Showcase at Western, but you may still be asking yourself what it was all about.

The Showcase started in 2006, and it is a way for Western students to show off their hard work from the year. It was created when the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences decided to expand on the academic excellence awards that Phi Kappa Phi organized annually.

Over 350 students present material they’ve been working on, whether it’s academic research or creative activities. It is interdisciplinary, and includes anything from scholarly research papers to the performance of a dance routine.

“The PURE Task Force identified many ways to help facilitate and enhance undergraduate research experiences,” the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences said in their message to the audience during the first Academic Excellence Showcase. “One of the proposed mechanisms was to facilitate greater participation by the entire campus in celebrating our students’ accomplishments.”

Dr. John Minahan, Western’s president during the first Academic Excellence Showcase, also had a message for the audience.

“There is no better way to demonstrate the value of a Western Oregon University education than through the work of our students,” he said.

“These abstracts of student presentations represent the outcomes of a university that knows the importance of research and scholarship,” Minahan said.

“Through this year’s Academic Excellence Showcase, Western Oregon University is demonstrating that undergraduate scholarship and creativity are distinguishing characteristics of our university.”

The event was planned in 2006 to be a part of Western’s 150th anniversary, but it has been an annual event ever since.

Contact the author at awilson15@wou.edu or on Twitter @awilsonjournal.