Information for Faculty

“For undergraduate and graduate students, Showcase is a time to show off all the hard work that they’ve put in during the year. For faculty, it is a moment to be proud of the tremendous progress that students have made.” — Mitch Aso, Associate Professor, Department of History and Department of East Asian Studies 

“Location and time were perfect — high traffic area in the Podium, middle of the day, we had lots of undergrads as well as high school students attend our posters. ... We will definitely continue to do this instead of our own undergraduate research symposium because the availability of a time when all students are both in session but not in class is too good an opportunity to miss, and it highlights what makes our school special.” — Alan Chen, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry 

“Showcase was a success! I wish we recorded our session — it would have been helpful to show future cohorts of SEED MBA consultants the impact that their efforts are having on the lives of local entrepreneurs. The event certainly showcased the partnership between our MBA students and the local business community.” — Bill Wales, Associate Dean for Research, Standish Chair in Entrepreneurship, Massry School of Business 

“We had two oral presentation sessions with graduate students, and I think they really enjoyed the experience and found it useful. Several faculty from the department were in attendance and offered them some useful guidance for their research. ... For my big undergraduate class, students were required to attend three presentations. ... In their write-ups, several students commented that they enjoyed the experience and learned a lot.” — Joanne M. Kaufman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology 

Identify which presentations and poster sessions are taking place during your normal class meeting time. Ask your students to determine which offerings contain concepts from your course and to select one to attend. 

Then, assign one of these two assignments: 

Option 1: Ask your students to prepare specific and open-ended questions for the presentation or poster session they have decided to attend. 

Option 2: Ask your students to write a short report summarizing the presentation or poster session they decided to attend, identifying the following information:  

• Title and brief summary of the project 

• Indicate a concept, test or something else relevant to your class 

• Discuss their thoughts on how the project relates to that concept 

The Minerva Center for High Impact Learning offers guidance on reading a research poster and interacting with its author(s), which you may wish to share with your students.

If your course includes a semester-long project, ask your students to present at Showcase. The Minerva Center for High Impact Learning has online resources to help your students draft abstracts and create posters.  

If your course does not include a semester-long project, ask your students to attend presentations and/or poster sessions relevant to your course content and provide them with reflection questions to answer. The Minerva Center for High Impact Learning offers guidance on reading a research poster and interacting with its author(s), which you may wish to share with your students.

Ask your students to form groups (or place them in teams yourself) and create a poster presentation, panel discussion, lightning talks or other presentations relevant to a reoccurring theme or topic in your course.  

Groups can collectively develop an individual project idea, or you can assign each group a specific theme or topic.  

Ideally, these projects will translate into presentations and/or poster sessions during next year's Showcase Day. To that end, the Minerva Center for High Impact Learning has online resources to help your students draft abstracts and create posters.

In lieu of an assignment or project, ask your students to volunteer as support staff on Showcase Day.

They'll gain valuable experience managing logistics and help ensure a smooth day of events, and you'll be able to track students' participation using Engage UAlbany.