Cornerstone University Hosts Virtual Celebration of Scholarship

In an effort to promote growth and fuel the passion in their students, Cornerstone University held its annual Celebration of Scholarship, a conference-style event that showcased various types of scholarship artifacts developed and presented by students, as a virtual event.

Students and community members can visit Miller Library’s website this summer to look through various media presented by students during the spring 2020 semester.

“This event highlights the university’s primary purpose to learn, grow intellectually and develop skills in our disciplines,” said Dr. Michael VanDyke, professor of English and lead organizer of Celebration of Scholarship.

As faculty scholarship coordinator, VanDyke helped implement the event envisioned by Dr. Shawn Newhouse, senior vice president of traditional undergraduate academics. Newhouse saw events put in place to honor faculty and wanted to offer something similar for students. Celebration of Scholarship began in 2018 to do just that.

Celebration of Scholarship is an annual academic event highlighting student scholarship and raising the level of academic discourse and conversation on campus—all while serving as a reminder of the value of everything achieved in classrooms.

Each year, Celebration of Scholarship unifies the campus community and brings peers together to support each other in their endeavors—from original research to musical performances—across academic divisions.

In order to present during this event, students followed an application process. They submitted a proposal, indicating the type of scholarly work, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member who affirmed the academic quality of the proposed project. Following this, a committee used a rubric to judge academic quality and clearness of the proposal as well as taking into perspective the support of a faculty sponsor.

This year’s Celebration of Scholarship honored CU students and their relentless pursuit of hard work during the year. It also gave them an opportunity to gain affirmation from their peers, share their findings and passion projects and show future employers their dedication to rigorous intellectual inquiry.

This event also showcased the significance of academics to the Christian life.

“Developing the mind is a big part of discipleship,” VanDyke said. “We wanted to unify the whole campus around the central purpose of what we are doing here and remind everyone of the value of what we are doing in the classroom.”