In an effort to better showcase the artistic and literary talents of UW-Madison undergraduates, a group of students is compiling pieces that will eventually form \The Symposium-The Undergraduate Journal of the Humanities.""
""The Symposium,"" which will be published once every semester, is the brainchild of UW-Madison senior Adam Blackbourn, who is the editor-in-chief of the journal.
""The idea is to have a more approachable academic journal that will be interesting to, hopefully, most students enrolled at the university,"" Blackbourn said.
""The Symposium"" will be published both in print and online forms, according to Blackbourn, and will include poetry, short stories and other forms of creative writing as well as samples of drawing, painting and photography. In addition, ""The Symposium"" will publish humanities essays, research papers and pieces on how UW-Madison is involved outside of the classroom and in the national and international communities.
""Students here do a ton of work and put a lot of time and effort into it,"" Blackbourn said. ""We think there should be a ... place where they can actually publish their works.""
Roshelle Born, a UW-Madison junior who serves as director of marketing for ""The Symposium,"" said the project will provide a much-needed medium through which students' works can get the recognition they deserve.
""Madison has always been a respected community conducive to arts and research,"" she said. ""When [Blackbourn] presented me with this project, I really began to notice that void where a lot of brilliant pieces on this campus weren't getting acknowledged.""
""It's a great thing to have for the undergraduates, but it's also a point of pride for the university,"" said UW-Madison Director of Libraries Ken Frazier, who is a member of ""The Symposium's"" diverse advisory board. ""I don't think there's any doubt that if this takes off it'll do well.""
Blackbourn said ""The Symposium"" is still seeking submissions for its inaugural issue, which should be published in late April. Work may be submitted to Art Editor Marieka Brouwer at mebrouwer@wisc.edu, Literature Editor Joanna Borgione at jcborgione@wisc.edu or Essay Editor Joel Feingold at jlfeingold@wisc.edu. Students may send in any work they have done while enrolled as undergraduates at UW-Madison. The submission deadline is Feb. 15.
""The quality of the journal really depends on the amount and the quality of submissions,"" Blackbourn said.
For more information, students may visit symposium.rso.wisc.edu.
