The College of Arts and Sciences is holding the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Symposium on April 11 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the John C. Myers Convocation Center.

The symposium features work from over 60 students from 15 different departments within the College.

The dean of the college, Dr. Dawn Weber, explained that the symposium will showcase a variety of work and talents of the students within the College of Arts and Sciences.

“This event provides students in the College of Arts and Sciences the chance to present the results of independent research, exhibit their artwork, or give literary readings, musical or theatrical performances in a professional setting,” Dr. Weber said.

The symposium will include oral presentations, performances, poster presentations, and art exhibitions.

The event will start off at with the first session of oral presentations from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in the Trustees Room. Dr. Weber will start the event with the welcome and opening remarks, and then will pass it on to the students. The first oral session includes works from Joey Barretta, Lydia Smith, Kiana Ziegler, and Meghann Fitzpatrick.

The second and third sessions of oral presentations will take place from 10:30 a.m to 11:30 a.m. The second session will be in the Trustees Room which will include work from Alicia Jones, Corinne Spisz, Kayla Gowdy, and Aimee Linville. The third session will be in the Faculty Room and include works from Ryan Bastian, Isaac Waterman, and Ceyanna Stasick.

Stasick will be presenting her work “The Stronger: An Application of the Meisner Acting Technique” which is a technique she has been drawn to in her acting.

“The Meisner technique is built on repetition exercises meant to increase one’s listening skills,” Stasick said. “As a Meisner actor you can not think, you must do. Simply and truthfully. My goal in the show was to achieve this skill of instant response, to be completely in the moment in that way.”

The first poster and exhibition session will take place from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Alumni Room. This session will include the works of Tasha Arnold, Lauren Bacigalupe and Emily Dine, Derek Baker, Zachary Bernhard, Hayden Eighinger, Elizabeth Kemp, Marissa Lindberg, Lydia Smith, Isabella Steiner, Hannah Wiles and Mitch Ellis, Muslimah Williams, Isaac Waterman, Emily Minns, and Emily Nicholls and Lindsey Jones.

The second poster and exhibition session will take place from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the Alumni Room and will include work from Kate Budzik and Melanie Ward, Emily Civittolo, Emily Dine, Justin Dowell and Kelsey Kidd, Emily Law, Danny Lawson, Morgan Snyder, Cory Turpin and Lacy Hepp, Olivia Widenmeyer, Emily Wirtz and Danielle Bruno, Kelly Murray, Anamarie Coors.

Dine’s work “Analysis of Phytochemicals of Red Maple and Related Species” has been project she has been working on for multiple years now and will be presenting her collected data.

“The goal of my project was to quantify the levels of acertannin in different maple species,” Dine said.  “Acertannin, is the suspect compound in the leaves which may produce a toxic effect in horses.  Interestingly enough, the wilted red maple leaf is of most concern because horses typically only eat the leaves if the branch has fallen. The wilted red maple leaves had the highest concentration of acertannin compared to the three others. This is interesting because there was a three fold increase in the amount as compared to fresh maple leaves.”

The oral presentations will continue from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m with the fourth and fifth sessions. The fourth session will be held in the Trustees Room and will include the works of Chanel Bluntschly, Michael Byndas, Joshua Thompson and Jason Wolf, Cortney Kourie and Samantha Carson, and Logan Baker. The fifth session will be held in the Faculty Room and include works from Grace McCourt, Dana Reed, Bethany Meadows, and Joey Barretta.

Baker’s work “Exploring Tadashi Suzuki’s Method in Performance” is her senior project for her degree in musical theatre.

“I declared which acting method I wanted to use at the end of my junior year after being exposed to Tadashi Suzuki and his acting method,” Baker said. “I wanted to explore a physical side of my acting and I began to research and solidify the exercises from Suzuki’s Method of Actor Training in early fall of my senior year. I accepted the role of the Leading Player in our spring musical Pippin, and from there I used the Suzuki exercises before rehearsals as well as between scenes to get out of my head and focus on the breath.”

The symposium will end with the sixth session of oral presentations from 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Trustees Room. The last session will include works from Bryanna Austin, Garrison Stima, Elizabeth Grace Davis, and Mykenna Schlorb.

For a complete presentation schedule, go to: https://www.ashland.edu/cas/sites/ashland.edu.cas/files/general/urca_program_final.pdf