Academic Symposium to help kick off Inauguration Week

For students, annual event a time to share their interests, engage with others

For the past 16 years, the Wiggins Memorial Library Academic Symposium has been a powerful opportunity for students to showcase their research, develop confidence, refine their presentation skills and engage in meaningful discussion and debate with an audience of peers and professors.

This year's event will coincide with Inauguration Week for Campbell University's sixth president, Dr. William M. Downs. The daylong Symposium will be held with oral, art and poster presentations on March 24 and music performances on March 25. Presentations this year will cover a wide variety of subjects and feature nearly 200 students and roughly 75 professors.

Recent Master of Public Health graduate Chad Casale, who presented at the 2025 Symposium, said the experience had a big impact on his education at Campbell.

"My main takeaway from presenting is that audience engagement is extremely important for an outstanding presentation," he said. "My presentation resonated well with my audience, because I engaged with them throughout the presentation and while I was answering questions."

He also called the experience a great opportunity to prepare for future academic and professional goals.

"The Symposium gave me more experience with professionally presenting and engaging with audience questions," Casale added. For students pursuing graduate study, this experience is especially impactful. As another student explained, "For my [master's degree], I had complete a professional experience paper defense, so getting more presentation experience under my belt was amazing."

Beyond skill-building, students have reported that the Symposium reflects the University's Hallmark of Initiative. Students take ownership of their work, lead conversations and invite dialogue around topics that are meaningful to them.

While presenting is a main component in the Symposium, it would not be what it is without attendees. An engaged audience made up of fellow students, faculty, staff, parents and community members plays a crucial role in creating a supportive and dynamic environment. Thoughtful questions, active listening and encouragement help students gain confidence and see their work as meaningful beyond the classroom.

Learn more about this year's Academic Symposium: https://cusymposium26.sched.com/.