Dozens showcase research

Graduate students from around the country flocked to Penn to showcase their work at the third annual Spencer Student Research Symposium last Friday. The symposium, attended by over 100 Penn students, faculty and guests from other institutions, was sponsored by the Spencer Foundation. The Spencer Foundation, based in Chicago, awarded a grant to Penn in 1997 to fund student research. According to its leaders, the foundation hopes to "contribute to improving research education and mentoring for doctoral students in schools of education." Currently, Spencer sponsors 16 Penn students in the Graduate School of Education. Held in Logan, Houston and Williams halls, Friday's event featured 36 presentations that focused on the general theme "Race and Cultural Issues in Urban Communities." Topics ranged from "Learning through the Arts" to "Club Drugs in NYC: Who, Where, What and Just How Much?" Nine of the Spencer fellows organized the symposium. According to Raymond Gunn -- a student organizer who also presented -- the goal of this year's symposium was to "bring together as many disciplines as possible... [and] to raise questions on how to go about our research." Kathy Hall, a member of the Spencer steering committee, agreed, saying that the symposium was about "creating connections across the schools." Students presented their work in panels across campus. The panels -- organized thematically -- were informal, allowing dialogue with the audience. The only non-student presenter was keynote speaker Shirley Brice Heath. Heath, a professor of English and linguistics at Stanford, spoke about her ongoing study on how the language of young people changes alongside of larger societal developments, like the move away from the nuclear family. Heath, in keeping with the theme of the symposium, focused mostly on the methodology of her research. Pointing out the difficulty of an adult "with gray hair" to observe the language of pre-teens and teenagers, Heath explained that she trains kids to gather data themselves. "They are, essentially, partners in this research," she said. Several audience members came to hear friends share their hard work. Lauren Scher, a student in the Graduate School of Education wanted both to "see what people are working on in Philadelphia" and support her many colleagues who made presentations.