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L to R: Perry Ransbottom, Erin Cassidy, Dain Finke, Tim Brady

The Z. Smith Reynolds Library hosted its third annual Senior Showcase on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Honoring Wake Forest students in their final year who are nominated by faculty advisors for exemplary research theses or projects, the Senior Showcase was originally proposed by a former student who was impressed by the diversity of his peers’ research projects, leading to desire for a forum for his fellow classmates to share their research with the campus community.

The Senior Showcase was held in the Library’s auditorium, which opened last summer. Four students were selected to present their research, representing four of the five divisions of the Wake Forest College. They presented to a large audience comprised of fellow students, faculty and staff, and family members. Beyond representing a cross-section of fields and departments, the honorees’ projects also represented a range of research methods and skills, from textual analysis to theatrical interpretation to ethnographic study to human subjects research.

The 2012 Senior Showcase honorees were:

• Erin Cassidy, Religion, for “John Calvin on Christian Responsibility for the Common Good,” nominated by Steven Boyd;
• Perry Ransbottom, Theatre, for Scenic Design for Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, nominated by Rob Eastman-Mullins;
• Dain Finke, Anthropology, for “Understanding Caste and Self: A Dalit Caste’s Navigation of Caste Boundaries and Identify Formation in Nepal,” nominated by Stephen Folmar; and,
• Tim Brady, Health and Exercise Science, for “The Effect of Breathing Frequency on Baroreceptor Sensitivity,” nominated by Patricia Nixon.

Following the presentations, and a lively question and answer session with the audience, honorees and attendees enjoyed a reception sponsored by the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Center.

-Molly Keener, Scholarly Communications