Classes canceled as conference brings 4,200 people to campus
April 2, 2014
Many classes in White Hall Classroom Building have been canceled starting Thursday for a conference that will bring about 4,200 people to campus.
The largest-ever National Conference for Undergraduate Research will bring thousands to UK from Thursday to Saturday.
UK has 800 student volunteers and has been preparing for the event for more than two years, said Diane Snow, the director of undergraduate research at UK.
The core of the conference will be undergraduate presentations on students’ research. These presentations will come from different areas of higher education, from arts to hard sciences.
Open houses will be held all over campus, and other speeches and excursions will take place as well, according to the NCUR website, cur.org/ncur_2014.
Open houses are free to students, but excursions and other events will cost money.
“It’s a big number of activities coordinated into one,” Snow said.
The excursions include “Horses, Hooch & History,” a walking tour of a Thoroughbred farm and a bourbon distillery, and “A Day at the Races,” a day spent at Keeneland.
The Graduate and Professional School Fair on Thursday and Friday will host representatives from more than 100 colleges and universities for students interested in further schooling.
Kris Kimel, founder of the IdeaFestival in Louisville and CEO and co-founder of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., will talk about creativity and innovation at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in his speech, “Big Ideas Start at Crazy.”
Students can register for $240 and faculty and others for $270 in the Student Center Grand Ballroom.
UK faculty, staff and non-presenting students can attend for free.
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