Faculty, students present at Midwest religion conference

Brian Smith, professor of religion and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, and three students presented at the Midwest American Academy of Religion annual meeting March 2 at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

• Smith presented “Religions and the Environment: Motivators for Change?”
• Mark Krause ’19 of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, presented “Causes of the 1961 Breakup of the Lutheran Synodical Conference.” He said a takeaway “feeling equalized and legitimized in academia, especially since we were not directly identified as undergraduate students.”
• Kim Frisque ’19 of Menominee, Michigan, presented “The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Recent Russian Expansionism.” She says, “Apart from being encouraged by other scholars during the question-and-answer period, I was given very good advice about how to continue this research.”
• Valerie Doornbos ’21 of Allendale, Michigan, presented “Similarities and Differences Regarding Care of the Earth Between Christian and Native American Traditions in Michigan.”

“Our students were clear, poised and handled questions from audience very well,” Smith says. “They all received solid feedback afterwards from those faculty from other institutions who heard their presentations.

About 20 undergraduates gave presentations at the conference, which had 140 participants from Midwest colleges and universities.

The Facebook page of the Center for Politics and the People features photos from the conference.

(Photo: Brian Smith, left, Valerie Doornbos, Kim Frisque and Mark Krause)