The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts will hold its first Arts and Humanities Research Capstone Symposium on May 3. It will include a morning address by Don Baker, the economic and commercial officer for the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
This is the first year the school will host a daylong symposium for students who have completed a capstone project in arts and humanities. A Senior Research Symposium for arts and humanities based research projects has been held in conjunction with the West Central Regional Science Fair in the past years.
The new symposium highlights the arts and humanities capstone projects students have worked on this academic year. Each ASMSA student must complete a capstone project during their two years at the school. Students who choose arts and humanities projects create portfolios of works ranging from visual arts to creative writing to film to music or another subject.
The event will feature more than 50 students presenting a wide variety of lectures and performances in the fields of arts and literature, creative non-fiction, creative writing, film, fine arts, history, music and social sciences.
“The Arts and Humanities Capstone Symposium is an opportunity to showcase our many talented students within the arts and humanities,” said Dr. Neil Oatsvall, a history instructor at ASMSA and one of the event’s organizers along with Dr. Mary Leigh, a humanities instructor. “These students have realized that there are many fulfilling careers within the arts and humanities, and they’re taking the first steps toward becoming professionals within those fields.”
“I’m also quite impressed with the wide range of projects that display our students’ hard work, creativity and innate curiosity.”
Leigh said the projects have a deeper meaning than a career for some students.
“The humanities and the arts are all about trying to understand better the human condition. Each of these disciplines allows our students to explore this fundamental question of what it means to be human, with all of our exceptional traits but also frailties,” she said.
Baker holds a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama and master’s from Baylor University in political science as well a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Baylor. He served as a member of ASMSA’s humanities faculty from 1999 to 2005 before leaving for a civil service career in the U.S. Department of State.
He has served as a foreign service officer in stations across the world, including Mexico, Jamaica, Iraq, Poland, Afghanistan and Slovenia. He has also kept his hand in education, serving as an adjunct faculty member for the American Public University System, which provides high quality higher education with an emphasis on educating the nation’s military and public service communities.
Baker’s keynote address will be held at 8:30 a.m. in the Creativity and Innovation Complex Oaklawn Foundation Community Center. He will speak about how his work in the humanities led to a career in diplomacy and public service.
The rest of the day will be divided into four sessions during which students will make their presentations. Sessions start at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. An award ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. to recognize superior projects in each category.
Baker’s address and all student sessions are free and open to the public.