Chapman University’s Center for Undergraduate Excellence (CUE) hosted an all-virtual Spring 2021 Undergraduate Student Scholar Symposium, May 5 – May 7. The symposium featured more than 200 poster and oral presentations from diverse academic and creative disciplines (56 of those from Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences) allowing student presenters to interact with guests in virtual meeting rooms synchronously.

“The Student Scholar Symposium is such an important event for the university. It provides an opportunity for students to showcase their intellectual work and for faculty and staff to interact with that work across the disciplines. Once students discover the satisfaction of sharing their ideas and scholarship with an audience, they are more likely to challenge themselves even further,” said Dr. Jan Osborn, Associate Professor of English. 

“This was our 3rd all virtual symposium. While it will never replace the in-person symposium, it went very well. At this point we have mastered the technical logistics of an online conference. We got a lot of positive feedback from students, faculty, and guests. They commented on the design of the platform, the ease of presenting their work virtually, and the overall quality of the academic/creative research,” said Dr. Julye Bidmead, Director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence at Chapman University and Associate Professor of Religious Studies in Wilkinson College.

Pre-COVID Student Scholar Symposium.

Two Political Science projects that stood out to Dr. John Compton, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science were “Breil Bonaguro’s research on the relationship between socioeconomic status and public opinion on abortion and Caitlin Guiao’s research on Asian American party identification and voting behavior. These are obviously timely topics, and both Breil and Caitlin demonstrated a real mastery of the secondary literature as well as current public opinion data.”

The Spring Student Scholar Symposium is CUE’s biggest event of the year. This campus wide event is a celebration of the remarkable scholarship and creativity conducted by Chapman undergraduates, anticipated by students and faculty each year.

Here is a list of Wilkinson College presenters.

Art

  • Marie Curie: Life and Legacy
    Presenter: Morgan Grimes
    Advisor: Lia Halloran
  • Nicole Daskas: A Retrospective
    Presenter: Nicole Daskas
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • Complementary Colors
    Presenter(s): Katie Carder
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • Dice
    Presenter: Tipton Wolfley
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • MARRIAGE
    Presenter: Eugene Kim
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • Brainscape ~ Vivian Girls
    Presenter: Emma Hudler
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • How to Navigate Womanhood Within the Patriarchy
    Presenter: Hannah Scott
    Advisor: Micol Hebron
  • Seeing Mirror
    Presenter: Curren Taber
    Advisor: Micol Hebron

English:

  • Gender Gap in Computer Science: An Invitational Rhetoric Study
    Presenter: Cindy Ramirez
    Advisor: Dr. Jan Osborn
  • The “S” Word: Socialism
    Presenter: Nathan Reynoso
    Advisor: Dr. Jan Osborn

History:

  • Transitioning to a Postwar Era: The Intergenerational Impact of the Holocaust on Survivors and Their Children Upon Settling in Israel
    Presenter: Giselle Nissenbaum
    Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Koerber
  • Surviving Through the Lessons of Sports
    Presenter: Ryan Fabre
    Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Koerber
  • Ableist Ideology and the Law: Nazi Germany’s Genocide of People with Disabilities
    Presenter: Taylor Hein
    Advisor: Dr. Marilyn Harran
  • Aryanization and Theft: The Nazi Targeting of the Jewish Fashion Industry
    Presenter: Will Hoskin
    Advisor: Dr. Marilyn Harran
  • Sovereignty, Statehood, and Subjugation: Japanese-American and Native Hawaiian Discourse Surrounding the Hawaii Admission Act of 1959
    Presenter: Nicole Saito
    Advisor: Dr. Robert Slayton

Political Science:

  • Beyond the Politics of Climate Change: How Education and Income Level Affect Environmental Values
    Presenter: Joanna Falla
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Are Religious Latinos More Likely to Vote Republican than Non-Religious Latinos?
    Presenter: Leo Ortega
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • The Growth of Isolationism and its Impacts in the United States
    Presenter: Pedro Marquard
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Asian American Party Identification in Presidential Elections: A Look into Age and Length of Residence in the United States
    Presenter: Caitlin Guiao
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Abortion Views
    Presenter: Breil Bonaguro
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Gun Control: The Gender Gap Within Parties
    Presenter: Maggie Kabilafkas
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • The Structure of Environmental Racism in Long Beach, California
    Presenter: Mallory Warhurst
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Catholicism’s Effects on American Public Opinion In the Kennedy Era
    Presenter: Nikki DeBonis
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • The Great American Divide: How Race has Shaped the Republican Party and Modern Politics
    Presenter: Madison Demaris
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Is Modern Media Driving Political Polarization?
    Presenter: Iain Richards
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Racial Resentment and Voting Behavior in the Trump Era
    Presenter: Lillian Lachman
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Social Media’s Influence on Negative Partisanship and Affective Polarization
    Presenter: Amanda Ellis
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Who Supports Raising the Minimum Wage?
    Presenter: DJ Sollender
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • How Religiosity impacts Americans’ views on Immigration
    Presenter: Crash Shahinian
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • How Religiosity Interacts with Gender to Shape Policy Preferences
    Presenter: Brennen Ramos
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Mass Shootings: Conspiracies, Fear, and the Media
    Presenter: Karsyn Aoki
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • Beliefs and their Byproducts: The Impact of Religiosity and Political Ideology on Attitudes Toward COVID-19, Vaccines, and Climate Change
    Presenter: Philip Goodrich
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • COVID-19 and Political Affiliation in America
    Presenter: Natalie Karim
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • Cybersecurity Threats on Voter Fraud: Fact or Fiction?
    Presenter: Zyer Abdullah
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • How Education Impacts the Voting Habits of Different Races
    Presenter: Jake Steinbock
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Political Affiliations and the Coronavirus Pandemic
    Presenter: Dylan Hartanov
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • The Fear of Oil Spills
    Presenter: Noah Smith
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • Fear of Corrupt Government Officials and the Impact of Mass Media
    Presenter: Eva Jones
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • Media Matters: Media’s Effect on Negative Partisanship in the 2016 Election
    Presenter: McKenna Etheridge
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Anti-intellectualism and American Fears: An Analysis of Social and Political Factors that Influence Distrust in Scientific Authority
    Presenter: Naomi Hill
    Advisor: Dr. David Shafie
  • Explaining the History and Rise of the Republican Latino Vote
    Presenter: Alberto Cruz
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Religion: The Perpetually Forgotten, and Underestimated Group Influencer in 21st Century Politics
    Presenter: Madison Mercer
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Vaccine Hesitancy, the COVID 19 Pandemic, and Christian Fundamentalism
    Presenter: Nicole Drew
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • The Partisan Effects of COVID-19: Mask Wearing and News Sources
    Presenter: Lily Martin
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • How Does Aging Influence The Fear of Gun Control in America?
    Presenter: Alyssa Castanon
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • QAnon: The Effects of Radical Ideology on Belief in Conspiracy Theories
    Presenter: Samuel Andrus
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • United States Media and the Partisan Divide on Iran
    Presenter: Jacob Adler
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • Partisanship as a Determinant of Policy Preference
    Presenter: Christopher Cobb
    Advisor: Dr. Ann Gordon
  • The War on Drugs: United States Public Opinion
    Presenter: Karmen Pantoja
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • The Counter-Majoritarian Court
    Presenter: Kaity McKee
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton

Religious Studies

  • How Religion Affects Views on Abortion in the U.S.
    Presenter: Lillian Grabowski
    Advisor: Dr. John Compton
  • Women in Leadership: Quakerism and Voodou
    Presenter: Caroline Gardner
    Advisor: Dr. Julye Bidmead
  • Returning To The Land: Applying The Values of Indigenous Practices to Support The Environmental Movement.
    Presenter: Carla Frias
    Advisor: Dr. Nancy Martin

Sociology

  • How do undergraduate students practice off-grid culture and what does it mean to them?
    Presenter: Bentley Kandel
    Advisor: Dr. Edson Cruz

World Languages and Cultures

  • Genderlect Theory in Paloma Pedrero’s “La llamada de Lauren” and Sabina Berman’s “Entre Villa y una mujer desnuda”
    Presenter: Thomas Tsai
    Advisor: Dr. Polly Hodge

Translating Nonsense: An Analysis of the Poem “Jabberwocky” and Two French Translations
Presenter: Kylie Deer
Advisor: Dr. Allan MacVicar

To read more about all the individual student presentations check out the Spring 2021 Student Scholar Symposium Scalar website.