Honorary Magazine 2018-19

UPPER MIDWEST HONORS CONFERENCE 2019 Allison Rigotti

While the theme of the conference was “Embracing Failure,” the conference was a big success. On April 4-6, Honors Col- leges and programs from 25 schools lo- cated across seven Midwest states brought students and faculty to the University of Wisconsin-Stout to present their research and share what their programs are doing that sets them apart. In total the confer- ence drew 52 honors faculty, 5 alumni, 153 students, and 28 Stout student volunteers. Conference planning began more than a year ago as we designed the conference logo and branding, chose the theme, ad- vertisied to schools, and found students to help with the planning and organizing of the conference. Looking back, there are things that we would have changed, includ- ing the set up of the poster session and the overabundance of food for student and fac- ulty socials. These “failures” however, were

outweighed by the success of the confer- ence as a whole and provided great learning opportunities for future events. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. The conference featured session presen- tations and poster presentations by the stu- dents and faculty in attendance. UW-Stout presenters included Mary Benetti, Macken- zie Burke, Joel Butenhoff, Maddie Chris- tensen, Emily Delo, Katrina Franda, Aidan Gruber, Cassandra Isaacson, Joan Navarre, Elizabeth Nelsen, Brody Pierce, and Emma Sisk (listed with their presentations on the right of the opposite page). The conference also featured several faculty keynote speak- ers who shared about personal and profes- sional failures they have overcome. Present- ers included Lopa Basu, Chris Ferguson, Arthur Kneeland, and Tom Pearson. Overall, the conference brought to- gether the regional Honors community for

a fun weekend together, and students went on their way ready for next year’s conference that will be hosted at Bemidji State Uni- versity.The conference would not have been possible without the hard work of the UW- Stout Honors College Staff including Chris Ferguson (Director), Tom Pearson (Associ- ate Director), Xanthi Gerisimo (Advisor), and most of all, Amy Brostrom (Program Associate). Honors student employees also played a major role in the conference in- cluding Mackenzie Burke (Video Design), Emily Wyland (Graphic Design), and my- self, the Student Conference Coordinator. There was also significant help from honors students who volunteered to help organize social activities, lead tours around the MSC, staff the registration table, and serve as pre- sentation room moderators.

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HONORARY 2018 - 2019