History of the Conference

 

 

The Annual Regional Undergraduate Student Research Conference (RUSRC) was originally

conceptualized in 2010 by Dr. Carol Henderson and born in 2011 in collaboration with

Dr. A. Myrna Nurse and Dr. Andrew Blake. Its consortium was supported by

UD's Department of Black American Studies under the leadership of Dr. Henderson, then Chair, and Drs. Nurse and Blake of DSU’s Department of English and Foreign Languages and College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

 

 

The first RUSRC in 2011 was held at UD’s Arsht Hall,

Wilmington, with the theme, “Black Identity in the Age

of Obama.” It attracted a fledgling number of eight

student-participants from UD and DSU whose impressive

research included topics such as “‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’:

Single Motherhood in the Streets” (Brooklynn K. Hitchens,

UD) and “The Road to Success: How the Contributions of

Frederick Douglass and Nelson Mandela Paved the Way to

Success for Blacks” (Sonya Inderbitzin, DSU, First-place winner).

 

In 2012, due to its impressive numerical swell to almost forty student-participants, it                                                                                expanded to a two-day symposium held at DSU’s Dover                                                                  campus. Lincoln University (LU) joined the consortium,                                                                    and Dr. Emmanuel Babatunde was instrumental in                                                                          bringing LU students. Its theme was, “Social,                                                                                     Technological, and Scientific Advancements of the 21st                                                                    Century.” Impressive topics included, “Attitude of Young                                                                  Black Males to Breastfeeding” (Brian Brown, LU) and                                                                        “The Effect of Paternal Parenting Stress on Child Cognitive Development at 24 Months of Age” ( Kimele Gray, DSU, First-place winner).

 

The third conference in 2013 returned to UD and was held at Arsht Hall in Wilmington, with the theme, “Empowering Undergraduate Research: Producing Student Leaders in the Arts, Sciences, New Technologies, and Popular Culture.” Student-presenters discussed issues and raised poignant questions on topics such as “Age Discrimination in the Workplace of the United States” (Atiima Thompson, LU, First-place winner). Its thirty-plus participants included students from The New School, New York and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

 

The fourth conference in 2014 was held on LU’s picturesque in Lincoln, Pennsylvania. Dr. Emmanuel Babatunde (Professor and Chair, Sociology and Criminal Justice) and Dr. Robert Millette (Professor of Sociology and Ambassador-at-Large) co-chaired the event. Its theme, “Vantage Point: Where the Disciplines Meet,” attracted almost forty students from across the disciplines engaged in impressive undergraduate research. Outstanding topics were: “Victims of ‘Honor’ Tradition” (Arpita Mandal, UD) and “The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method for Electromagnetic Problems” (Heaven Thomas, DSU, First-place winner).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 2015 to the present, the hosting of the conference has continued its rotation.