College Creates Endowment to Support Guilford Undergraduate Symposium
Guilford has established an endowment to support the Guilford Undergraduate Symposium, in which students in every discipline showcase their academic achievement and gain valuable experience publicly presenting their work.
The College created the endowment from a combination of unrestricted gifts from the estates of Phillip L. Welch ’58 of Star, N.C., and Paul ’53 and Katherine Anderson of Tucson, Ariz., and contributions from the College’s Board of Visitors.
“This endowment will offer a sense of permanence and continuity for the faculty and students who work and benefit from the Undergraduate Symposium,” said President Kent Chabotar. “The Board of Visitors has made the symposium a funding priority, and we are fortunate to be able to use these unrestricted estate gifts for this purpose.”
“President Chabotar understands the importance of the symposium and how the results of work by students focus on their educational outcomes,” said Michael J. Poston, vice president for advancement. “The endowment will ensure that the symposium is a permanent part of the educational experience.”
Held annually in the spring semester since 2008, the Guilford Undergraduate Symposium is a day-long series of presentations, poster sessions, art exhibits and performances by students in each academic department. More than 100 students each year present original research, projects from internships or senior theses.
Faculty members Rob Whitnell, Melanie Lee-Brown, Kathryn Shields, Nancy Daukas, Eva Lawrence and Lavon Williams have been instrumental in organizing the undergraduate symposium.
