Academic Creativity and Excellence Day

Northwest Christian University (NCU)

ACE (Academic Creativity and Excellence) Day

• ACE Day was held on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at NCU and is sponsored and organized by the Undergraduate Research Committee.  The committee is composed of five faculty members: Tim Bergquist as Chair, Steve Caloudas, Coty Richardson, Nani Skaggs, and Connie Wilmarth.  ACE Day is designed to highlight student research activities, especially capstone projects by graduating seniors.  It is put on each spring (full day) and fall (morning only) during Dead Week.  ACE Day has now been held three times for each and every time it keeps getting bigger and bigger.  A Proceedings of the most outstanding capstone projects is now published by the committee.

• This fall we had a final count of 48 students taking part in 63 separate activities: 42 students in one, six students in two, and three students in three.  Here is a breakdown of the activities with student counts:
  • 13 capstones (12 oral and one poster, 13 students)
  • 16 posters (15 regular and one capstone, 27 students)
  • 4 panels (4 courses)
    • HIST 407 Civil War study away, 5 students
    • HIST 303 Christianity in Asia, 8 students
    • HIST 440 Understanding Chile, 5 students
    • BTH 207/407 King James Bible, 2 students
  • 1 music demonstration (1 student)
  • 2 comedy presentations  (2 students)
  • 1 other oral (MATH 315) (1 student)

• Posters are judged based on a rubric developed by the committee.  We had eight faculty and staff judging the 16 posters, so we were able to split them up with four judging posters 1 to 9 and another four judging posters 10 to 18.  In the past, every judge did every poster.  A certificate and gift card to the Beacon Beanery (NCU's on campus coffee house) are awarded to the top three posters ($15, $10, and $5).  This fall the winners were:

First place - Susan Leip and Charolene Somatis, COMM 460,

The Relationship Between Attention Span and YouTube Video Design

Second place - Krista Bryson and Jenna Royce, COMM 460,

Handling Conflict in the 21^st Century

Third place - Charlene Able, Karlie Griffith-Solinger, and Charolene Somatis, PSY 350,

The Effects of Communication Style on Writing Complexity and Length

• One especially significant event was that some students and a teacher from Central Linn High School were visiting.  They had a connection to NCU because a student teacher at the high school from NCU was taking part in the Civil War panel.  Fourteen faculty were involved as advisors for the student presenters and 18 different courses had presentations.