The Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium, a gathering that fosters and celebrates student research, will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2022.
The 2021 Symposium was held on April 29-April 30. Presenters shared their work in videos posted online and interacted with their audience in live Q&A sessions after each presentation. The symposium featured a keynote address by organizational sociologist, Dr. Sorchy Brophy.
In conjunction with campus and community partners, the Symposium offers student research awards to students who present at the Symposium. Awards for the 2021 symposium included five $250 research awards and five poster awards of $50 each.
The 2021 Symposium featured a keynote by Dr. Sorcha Brophy, "Making Morals, Making a Difference?"
She addressed conflicts that occur in organizations around the creation of policies on topics such as gay marriage, racial diversity, and abortion. Members of organizations express ambivalence about organizational ethics policies--even as most people agree that organizations should have them, and there is a lot of skepticism about what organizational ethics actually do. She provided insight about the real role of ethics in orgaizations and discussed some of the ways that research has the potential to improve the types of organizations that we encounter on a daily basis.
Dr. Brophy is an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago where she teaches courses on the politics of health care, police reform, organizational ethics, race based policy in America, and policy implementation. Her research, teaching, and writing all explore the complex politics that emerge in organizations as they attempt to create and implement ethics policy. She has recently authored articles in Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, the Journal of Professions and Organization, and Sociology of Religion.
About the Symposium
The Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium is a gathering that fosters and celebrates student research at the university. The structure of the Symposium follows that of a traditional academic conference, and Augustana students from all disciplines are invited and encouraged to present their original research in this forum.
In 2015, the family of Dr. Arthur Olsen made an endowed gift to support the Augustana Symposium and student research. In honor of that gift and in tribute to Dr. Olsen's many contributions to the campus community and student research, the Augustana Symposium was renamed the Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium.
The Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium is supported by the Office of Academic Affairs, Civitas, Mikkelsen Library and UBG.