The Edward "Ted" Bunn Award for Student Excellence

The student paper and poster competition has become an integral part of Association for the University Regional Campuses of Ohio’s (AURCO) annual conference. After the first of the competition, the award was named after Dr. Bunn, who had died that year. Dr. Bunn was a consistent participant in AURCO’s Board and conferences. Of greater importance, Dr. Bunn was a fierce advocate for students on the Lake campus that he served as well as students throughout Ohio.

This year's annual conference will be held on April 9-10 at Kent State University at Stark. The student competition is open to all students currently enrolled at one of the 23 regional campuses in Ohio. The best poster and two best papers (assuming there are two categories) will receive the award and $150.00. The award money will be deposited in the student’s account at his or her regional campus. In the case of multiple authors for the winning poster or paper, award money will be equally split among all contributors.

Poster presenters should submit a brief abstract (no more than 300 words). Paper presenters should submit their entire paper along with a brief abstract of no more than 300 words. The abstract may be used for the conference program. These documents should be emailed to jshepher@kent.edu as an attachment using Word (.doc, .docx.), rich text format (.rtf), or a PDF file type. Use “AURCO Student submission” in the subject line of your email. Receipt of the submission will be sent via email. Students entering the competition should also register for the conference. To register, go to http://app.aurco.net/aurco2010/registration.php

Posters should be easily transportable and should be no larger than 4’ x 8’. They will be evaluated based upon the oral interaction between the authors and the evaluation committee as well as the poster’s clarity and use of visual (or other sensory) components.

For the paper competition, there will be two categories. Historically, these categories were the arts and humanities (includes creative writing) and the social sciences, but may defined in another way, depending upon the range of disciplines represented in the submissions. Non-creative writing papers should incorporate some sort of primary or secondary research and demonstrate knowledge of one of the standard documentation styles. There are no restrictions on the choice of topic or the length of the papers. The “score” on the written paper will account for two-thirds of the final evaluation. The other third will be allocated for an oral presentation that the student will make at the conference. Supplemented by a Powerpoint presentation or the equivalent, the presentation should provide a succinct overview of the paper and demonstrate oral communication skills. Time limits for presentations will be determined once all submission are received; however, one can expect 10-15 minutes being available. The winning papers will be published in the AURCO Journal.

Students must present at the conference to be eligible for the “Bunn” award.

 For example evaluation rubrics, click here.