Eastern Student Jennifer Disco of Gales Ferry Gives Oral Presentation at CREATE Conference

2016 May 5

More than 250 talented students at Eastern Connecticut State University presented research and creative work at the university's second annual CREATE conference this past April. CREATE stands for Celebrating Research Excellence and Artistic Talent at Eastern, and is the university's premier, academic year-end showcase. At the culminating event, students of all majors presented professional posters, live music, dance performances, artwork, photography, documentaries and panel discussions.

Jennifer Disco '16 of Gales Ferry, who majors in Spanish, gave an oral presentation at the event. Her oral presentation was titled "Displaying Culture at the New London County Historical Society: Real Life Experience in a Museum."

"Over the course of the semester, I have been an intern at the New London County Historical Society," said Disco. "As an intern, my duties included coming up with ideas for display cases as well as creating a weekly hotspot that is shared on social media. In my presentation, I plan to share my research and experience from this internship. Some of the research that I completed was a display case about the history of whaling. My duties for this display case was to find artifacts that fit with the topic and the time period, research them, create labels, and write a brief summary about the topic. After completing these tasks, I was asked to translate the labels and summary into Spanish. Once I completed these tasks, I was asked to create the layout for the case, which included taking measurements of the artifacts and the case itself in order to make sure that everything fit inside. This display case is being placed in the SCIENT Federal Credit Union in Groton, CT. My next display case that I was tasked with was researching a man named Henry Burbeck. The display case will be placed in the museum. Once I finish both of these display cases, I have been tasked with revamping all of the display cases in the museum. My goal for the presentation is to share my experience from working at the center of a museum and creating exhibits. My hope is that I can use this experience to further my education in the field of Museum Studies so that one day I might have the opportunity to work at the Smithsonian Institute."

Remarking on the variety of presentations, Professor Dickson Cunningham, conference co-chair, said, "CREATE encapsulates the essence of the liberal arts in one afternoon. It is an intellectual smorgasbord."

Speaking to the value of CREATE, Eastern President Elsa Nunez said, "It takes a very strong and dedicated student to produce this quality of work, and it's important for other students to see this output." Praising the faculty, she added, "It takes a committed and skillful mentor to guide students to the work that is on display. Mentorship is such an integral part of undergraduate research."

During the one-day conference, the Student Center crawled with artistic and scholarly activity. Students in professional attire addressed their peers, faculty and family. In the cafe, ensembles performed; in the theatre, student-produced documentaries were shown; in the Betty R. Tipton Room, aisles of posters depicting scientific research were displayed; across the hall, a gallery-worth of paintings lined the walls; and on the ground floor, panel discussions and oral presentations about the humanities took place.