(click on the image to download the complete program)
The 15th Annual Fisk University Research Symposium will be held on April 3-4, 2013, in the Appleton Room of Jubilee Hall, Fisk University. The objective of the symposium is to promote research and inter-disciplinary collaboration. The symposium provides an opportunity for our students and faculty to share the results of their recent research efforts with their peers and the university community. Students, faculty, and administrators from all disciplines are invited to submit their abstracts and posters.
Call for Abstracts: Call-For-Abstracts-2013.pdf (1 page, PDF file) , cfp-2013.txt
Keynote Speaker:Derek M. Griffith, PhD
Title: The Need for "Creative Maladjustment" in Research on Black Men's Health
Abstract
In September of 1967, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed a national health organization and he argued that researchers should seek "creative maladjustment" and not accept and adjust to social inequality and inhumanity. Despite this warning, we tend to oversimplify unjust racial and gender differences in health and treat them as though they are normal and acceptable, and therefore the solution lies in simply getting people to engage in healthier behavior. In this presentation, Dr. Griffith will describe how we need to reconsider the factors that determine why Black men, for example, live significantly shorter and sicker lives than all other race by gender groups in the US, and the solutions that are within our grasp of we pursue and answer the right questions, and correct the errors in the ways we have conceptualized, studied and sought to address Black men’s health.
Short Bio
Derek M. Griffith is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Health and Society and General Internal Medicine and Public Health and the Director of the Institute for Research on Men’s Health at Vanderbilt University. Previously, Dr. Griffith was an Assistant Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in the University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Assistant Director of the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health and the Director of the Center on Men’s Health Disparities at Michigan.
Dr. Griffith’s research focuses primarily on understanding and improving the health and well-being of Black American men. He also has written extensively on community-based approaches to reducing unjust racial differences in health, and he has trained and mentored undergraduate, masters and doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in these research areas. Dr. Griffith has published over 50 papers and book chapters, given numerous conference presentations. His research has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and his work has been covered by such news outlets as MSN, NPR, Time Magazine, United Press International, US News and World Report and USA Today.
Dr. Griffith his received a Bachelor of Arts (double major) in Psychology and Afro-American Studies from the University of Maryland at College Park, completed a predoctoral clinical psychology internship at Yale University School of Medicine, earned his Masters degree and PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology from DePaul University, and then completed the W.K. Kellogg Community Health Scholars postdoctoral fellowship in community-based participatory health disparities research at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.
Schedule
- Faculty & Admin (Posters & Presentations): Wednesday, April 3, 2013
- Student Posters: Thursday, April 4, 2013
- Keynote Presentation: Thursday, April 4, 2013 @ 1:00 PM
Best Paper Award
The "Best Paper" will be selected in each major, for which a sufficient number of abstracts are received. Majors may be combined within a School to create a category for the award. All posters will be evaluated by a team of judges.
About Symposium
Fisk is renowned for engaging students in research and scholarly activities. Empirical research and scholarship are grounded in our academic curriculum, campus support services, and community activities. Our faculty, students and administrators emphasize the discovery and advancement of knowledge through research in the natural and social sciences, business and the humanities.
The research symposium is a venue to disseminate and share scholarly contributions with other researchers and scholars. As research contributions and best practices are presented from several disciplines, it provides opportunities for inter-disciplinary research and collaboration. The poster presentations and dialogue with the researchers shows Fisk’s commitment for critical thinking and inquiry-based learning. Further, it strengthens the idea of serendipitous education – acquisition of knowledge in a positive and affirming learning environment.
Financial Support
We highly appreciate the financial support from our sponsors.
- Dr. Eugene Collins, director of the Fisk Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials (CPCoM), a Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) at Fisk University, has graciously confirmed that, as done in the past, CPCoM will co-sponsor the Symposium by covering the costs of printing the Symposium booklet. CPCoM will also cover the expenses of the printing supplies (special poster paper and plotter ink cartridges) for students and faculty opting to use the CPCoM printing room in Dubois Hall.
- Dr. Arnold Burger has announced that Title VII Grant will provide the financial support to partially cover the cost of refreshments during symposium.
About Fisk
Every year top students from the United States and across the globe choose Fisk as their portal to excel in their academic and professional careers. Here are just a few of our recent accomplishments:
- The Washington Monthly, September/October 2011, ranked Fisk as the "#1 Liberal Arts Institution in Research in the South" and the 16th Best Liberal Arts University in the nation in its "Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities" rankings”. Fisk ranks in the top 10 percent of the 250 leading liberal arts institutions based on social mobility, research and service.
- U.S. News & World Report’s Top Colleges and Universities 2012, ranked Fisk in Tier One at #144 of more than 1,400 Liberal Arts Institutions in the United States. Among the Liberal Arts Tier One rankings are only three HBCUs: Fisk, Morehouse and Spelman.
- For the 20th consecutive year, the Princeton Review included Fisk on its 2012 list of “The Best 373 Colleges” in the nation and on its list of “The Best Southeastern Colleges.”
- Fisk ranked among the top 25 percent of 650 higher education institutions listed in Forbes’ 2011 Top College List.
- For the past 19 years, Money Magazine has included Fisk on its “100 Best College Buys” list.
- The most recent National Science Foundation study reveals that Fisk alumni earned more doctoral degrees in the natural sciences than African-American graduates from any other college or university in the nation (National Science Foundation, Academic Institutional Profile, 2007).
- Fisk ranks in the 77th percentile of all institutions in the United States receiving federal science and engineering research funds (National Science Foundation, Academic Institutional Profile, 2007).
- Fisk is the number one producer of African Americans who obtain their master’s degrees in physics (National Science Foundation, 2007).
- Fisk ranks among the top 50 U.S. institutions whose graduates earn Ph.D. degrees in science and engineering (National Science Foundation, 2007).
- Fisk received a charter for the first chapter of The Phi Beta Kappa Society on a predominantly black campus in 1952. Fisk’s 2011 graduating class included eight students who were inducted into The Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Check "About Fisk" web page for more information.