The second annual ShareFair conference on UMUC Faculty Research and Scholarship provided another opportunity for sharing knowledge and ideas within the universitys faculty community. The half-day event on September 20 in the Academic Center at Largo engaged an eager crowd of about 100 faculty members.
ShareFair creator/founder Dr. Jay Liebowitz, Orkand Endowed Chair in Management and Technology in The Graduate School, welcomed everyone to the event and introduced Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Marie Cini, who highlighted the importance of faculty research and its contribution to the university and its students.
Following the opening remarks, attendees were encouraged to walk through a gallery of research poster presentations and engage in conversation with the faculty presenters. Five of the 29 research poster displays were presented virtually via WebEx for viewing both remotely and on campus. (See the URL at the end of this article to view the recorded WebEx sessions.) This years poster presentations included a diverse range of topics representing ongoing research by UMUC faculty, including Development of a Reliable, Valid, Multi-Dimensional Measure of Student Engagement in Group Projects, Violent Adult Female Offenders and Their Victims, and Mobile Phones as a Payment System, to name a few. UMUC faculty member Wendy McDonough noted how refreshing it was to see UMUC students who happened to be in Largo that day taking an interest in the presentations.
The event also included 11 Knowledge Cafs. Some of the timely topics that faculty discussed in these moderated roundtable sessions included Integrating Social Media and Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom, Using Graphical Presentations to Enhance Student Learning, and Corporate Social Responsibility. The Knowledge Cafs allowed faculty members toengage in lively discussion, creating a general buzz of excitement in the room while sharing and brainstorming ideas and topics for more faculty research.
Dr. Kathryn Klose, Associate Chair and Program Director of Management, Accounting and Finance, attended the days events and noted that it provides UMUCs faculty with a wonderful opportunity to connect with each other and learn more about the interesting research in which our colleagues are engaged.
ShareFair 2012 concluded with an awards ceremony with remarks by Dr. Liebowitz, who recognized the local faculty members for their participation. The award for best poster presentation, announced by Dr. Theo Stone, Program Director for Field Experiences in The Graduate Schools Education department, went to Megan Davis, Julie Lietzau, Clare Miller, and Joseph Rawson of Information Library Services for their presentation Virtual Reference at a Global University: An Analysis of Patron and Question Type.
At the conclusion of the event, Dr. Liebowitz described this years ShareFair as another success in terms of showcasing our facultys research and scholarship, developing new potential research collaborations, sharing ideas, generating conversations, and recognizing our faculty for their research and scholarship endeavors.
For a complete list of all the poster presentations (many with links to presentation materials) and Knowledge Caf discussions at ShareFair 2012, please see UMUCs Research Scholarship repository.
Related ShareFair Links
- ShareFair site within the UMUC Research Scholarship Repository
- ShareFair 2012 Video Review site includes a compilation video highlighting various aspects of the event as well as a video featuring the poster presentations that were available onsite
- WebEx Sessions archived recordings of the five virtual poster presentations
- Photos all photos are courtesy of Sa Sun, Instructional Support Specialist, Center for Support of Instruction