CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Eighth Annual Student Symposium
Monday, April 28, 2025

The Student Symposium is a university-wide event celebrating student-written work and textual recitations from classes at DRBU. All students, MA, BA, and TC, are encouraged to submit proposals for paper presentations, panels, or memorized textual recitations from any of their DRBU classes. Classes are put on hold for this lively day-long event bringing together faculty, students, staff, and friends of DRBU to foster student scholarship, public speaking, and cross-cohort shared inquiry. Click here to check out last year’s program

All students are expected to attend the Student Symposium and will get credit for Monday classes for attending/presenting. In addition to making presentations, students can participate by helping with time-keeping, refreshments, entertainment, and set-up. 

Please find the instructions and link to the submission form below. Submissions will be accepted until the deadline, Sunday, March 23rd

To present at the Symposium, there are two requirements:

1.  Be a current DRBU student
2.  Read the submission guidelines below and submit all required materials for your paper, panel, or recitation proposal by the deadline of Sunday, March 23, 2025.   **The first 3 students to submit will receive a $5 Black Oak gift card!**

Submission Insructions & Guidelines: 

All students, MA, BA, and TC, may submit proposals for paper presentations, panels, or memorized textual recitations from their DRBU classes. When choosing to present a paper or recitation, we recommend picking something meaningful to you or something that represents a milestone in your process of developing inherent wisdom. 

Paper Submissions: 

Submit: 1) paper title and 2) an abstract (max 200 words) describing your topic. You DO NOT have to submit your finished paper. On writing abstracts, you may find this website or this list of tips useful. 

The paper should be based on written work submitted for any DRBU course and/or approved by a faculty member. It could be a paper you have written for a class in the past or one that you are currently working on which will be finished by the Symposium. Seniors are welcome to present part of their Senior Essay.  

Note on length: Paper presentations will likely have a time limit of 10 min. It takes approximately 2-2.5 minutes to read aloud a single page of double-spaced text (with practice), so your paper will need to be less than 5 pages double-spaced if you plan to read it. 

Panel Submissions: 

A panel is a group of people presenting on a single topic. The presentations in a panel will be shorter than individual paper submissions. 

The panel organizer should Submit: 1) panel title 2) abstract (max 250 words) on the theme/content of the panel. 3) the full names of all participants 4) the titles of each participant’s paper. 5) the name of the Chair of the panel. (The Chair’s job is to introduce the panel theme, introduce the speakers on the panel, and facilitate the Q & A during the presentation. The Chair can be a student or a faculty member.) 

For example, you may wish to organize a panel around the papers written by you and a few fellow students for a certain class (such as “Hermeneutics of Practice”), or you may look for other students (including cross-cohort) who want to present on a similar theme or the same text (such as “Plato’s Apology” or “the Rāmāyaṇa). Confirm all panelists and collect their paper titles before submitting.

Recitation Submissions: 

Students are invited to individually or as a group perform short (max 5 min) memorized recitations of a passage, poem, or dialogue/skit from any text within the curriculum. You will be asked to briefly introduce your text before reciting it. The recitation performances are always a big hit. In the past, we have had recitations including translations of poems, a recitation in Classical Chinese of “Jing ye se” (Quiet Night Thoughts) by Poet Li Bai,  a skit on “The Butterfly Dream” by Zhuangzi, Mantras in Sanskrit and Pali, and a scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Note that students joining group recitations may also submit a paper if they wish. 

Submit: 1) title of the text, 2) bibliographic citation, and 3) a short introduction to your selection (max. 150 words). Recitation slots will be filled first-come-first-serve so please submit early! Students participating in group recitations may present a paper as well, if they wish. 

Presentation Length: 
    • Individual Papers: 8-10 minutes plus additional time for Q & A. 
    • Panel Papers: TBA (less than 10 min each) 
    • Recitations: 5 minutes including introduction. 

(We will be in touch to confirm the exact allotted time, as it will depend on how many submissions we receive.)

If you need assistance preparing your submission materials or presentations, please reach out to your writing tutors and instructors. 

READY TO SUBMIT?
Click on this SUBMISSION FORM link for the 8th Annual Student Symposium! Deadline Sunday, March 23, 2025. 

We look forward to celebrating your discoveries in close reading and shared inquiry!

If you have questions, please email: symposium@drbu.edu.