Name: Lindsey Morrow
Class: Ph.D. candidate
Major: Higher Education Administration
Hometown: Oak Ridge, TN

Name: Rex Nobles
Class: Ph.D. candidate
Major: Higher Education Administration
Hometown: New York, NY

Lindsey, you were a first-place winner in the Communications category in the oral presentations at last year's Graduate Student Day. Can you talk a little about your winning presentation?

Lindsey: Chris Roberts and I presented our paper on financial press releases called, "Moving the Bottom Line." Basically, it was a content analysis of approximately 1200 press releases designed to examine differences in placement between positive versus negative financial results in company releases.

How did the presentation help you?

Lindsey: It was my first academic presentation; so, I was a bit uneasy making the presentation. But in hindsight, we were able to follow a formula to guide our presentation, and that was comforting.

Have you done presentations since the first, and did the first help you prepare for those presentations?

Lindsey: Yes, I really appreciated that experience because it helped prepare me for discussing my research in front of people at conferences.

Rex, you were a student judge at last year's Graduate Student Day. Can you talk about your experience?

Rex: I served as the student judge along with two faculty judges for the scholarly poster competition. We reviewed posters from several graduate programs, including public history, marine science, engineering, and library and information science. The first place winner's entry contained some complex concepts, since the posters are often used for disciplinary conferences and competitions. However, it also included relatable visual images and definitions explaining the concepts. Also, the winner was comfortable and compelling in answering questions and explaining the scientific aspects of geological sciences to us.

Lindsey: One of the great things about Graduate Student Day is that you're asked to present, knowing that the audience is not from your discipline. So, you go in understanding that you need to be clear and help people who aren't used to your theoretical background understand it. I feel like Graduate Student Day is a great opportunity for cross-disciplinary interaction. You're asked to make your research easy for anyone to understand. It is an opportunity to show that I can help you understand what's important to my discipline and me.

Rex, you're president of the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Can you talk about the organization?

Rex: The Graduate Student Association serves as the voice for the entire graduate student population. This is somewhat challenging because once students begin graduate study, relationships are generally with students and professors from their specific disciplines. Interdisciplinary graduate student contact is not the norm. Graduate study can be very consuming in terms of requirements for academic work, research, teaching, instructional assistantships, and external jobs. Students may be enthusiastic about the organization, but lack time for personal involvement. One area current GSA officers determined needed improvement was graduate student representation on various campus-wide committees. We have been working to create a higher level of visibility for the organization and graduate students. Some of the campus-based committees had undergraduate student representatives, but there are opportunities for our participation. The faculty and administrative committee members have encouraged graduate student involvement and the Student Government Association has been very receptive as well. We have established a level of good will with institutional administrators this year and maintain contact with graduate student organizations and graduate directors. Graduate Student Day is an excellent opportunity for students in various disciplines to come together and share their academic and research creativity.

Lindsey, you're treasurer of the Graduate Student Association, anything to add about the organization?

Lindsey: Rex and I feel dedicated to the idea of trying, as representatives, to assess what activities will be most beneficial to graduate students, whether it be a seminar, like the one we did today on academic integrity, or an opportunity to learn more about the University through our "Meet the President" event. We also look at different trends in higher education, offering programs for graduate students to learn about hot topics in higher ed and topics that might be pertinent to them down the road when they finally cross the stage. Do they know where they're going, and can we help them get there?

Rex: By working closely with The Graduate School, we can provide and obtain insight from the perspective of future and current students. So, we are working to help bring students to the university and supply useful and meaningful information on fellowships and other graduate opportunities while they are here.

3/06