Expo Info for Faculty Mentors

What is the Student Scholarship Expo?

The Student Scholarship Expo is an annual celebration of the research, scholarship, and creative production of Bradley undergraduate and graduate students from across the disciplinary spectrum of our academic programs. Students present poster displays of their projects, and share a short 5-10 minute presentation about their work to a panel of volunteer judges from the Bradley and surrounding community. Judges evaluate the students’ presentation skills, making note of how organized their poster is, how well they share their project to a generalized audience, and on their general public speaking and presentations skills. Awards are offered to the best poster presentations made at the Expo.

What criteria will be used to judge my students’ projects?

Understanding that our judges volunteer to serve at the Expo, often as informed generalists who may appreciate the work done in a disciplinary area but with no real expertise in that area, we use evaluation rubrics that focus on the basic poster organization and student presentation skills demonstrated by the students. We explain to our judges that we leave evaluation of the work itself to the faculty mentors who do have the disciplinary expertise to understand and critique the actual research, scholarship or creative work being presented.

Why should I encourage my students to participate?

Students who have participated Expo in the past have shared that they value: (1) the chance to showcase their work to judges from outside of their familiar Bradley community; (2) the opportunity to practice and hone their presentation skills, particularly to a generalist audience; (3) the opportunity to see what students are doing in other disciplines and from other colleges; and (4) the recognition of their hard work in a university-wide Bradley event that consistently includes the involvement of our President, Provost, and College Deans, not to mention many senior ranking persons from local businesses and organizations.

Who organizes the Expo each year?

The Expo Advisory Board, comprised of representatives from the disciplinary areas of Bradley’s five colleges, as well as representatives from important administrative offices such as the Office of Advancement, the Career Center, and the Cullom-Davis Library, guide and advise the Expo Organizers on the organization and structure of the Expo program. A list of our Expo Advisory Board representatives is available on the Expo homepage. If you have any ideas or feedback about the Expo, please share them with a member of the Board or the Expo organizers so we can continue to improve on the event.

How can I get involved?

There are many ways to be involved in the Student Scholarship Expo.

1. Register to serve as a judge. We hope to have at least ONE Bradley Faculty Member serving on each judging team. This ensures that guest judges have an informed Bradley representative who can share more about the academic culture at Bradley University, and perhaps remind the team that expert evaluation of projects is left to the faculty mentors, and that students' poster organization and presentation skills are the focus of evaluation at Expo. You can register to serve as a judge.
2. Help recruit judges. Finding qualified judges with a working generalist knowledge of disciplinary areas in which students present is always a challenge. Please reach out to your collaborators, colleagues, and community connections to let them know about this opportunity to see the work of our students while giving the students a chance to practice their presentation skills.
3. Encourage your students to start thinking now about Expo. This year's Expo will be taking place online using the RocketJudge virtual event interface. Students can find updated info at Expo Info for Students. Specific details regarding the online interface will be sent to students after registration.

Where can I find out more information about the Expo?

E-mail any additional questions to studentexpo@bradley.edu.