Daylong event highlighted student projects, research, film festival, and more.
Loras College hosted its eleventh annual Loras Legacy Symposium starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 17. During the daylong event, free and open to the public, students and faculty members representing every major at the college showcased their academic accomplishments through more than 140 poster and oral presentations across campus and an evening film festival.
The symposium also celebrated the liberal arts tradition at Loras College, where connections between disciplines were made and the sharing of different perspectives was celebrated. In each of these considerations, one quickly learned the transferable and necessary skills needed to meet marketplace demands.
Student and faculty work included capstone projects, case studies, creative readings and works, research papers, honors projects, and presentations of service trips. Projects and various works included “Understanding Chemo-Brain: The Role of Exercise on Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Dysfunction,” “The Melting Pot as a Metaphor for American Pluralism,” “Obesity and Quality of Life in an Adult Population,” “Olympus v. Vo (2023) and the Constitutional Right to Privacy,” and “Off Road Vehicle Telemetry System.” Topics also included aging, economics, privacy, land, justice, quality of life, and more.
The 7:00 p.m. film festival showcased a variety of the best of short films, including documentaries, narratives and experimental pieces, produced by the award-winning creative media program. A list of selected films and their student directors was available at the festival.
The Legacy Symposium was made possible through a donation from The Rev. Msgr. James Barta, who passed away in early December 2023. Barta began teaching at Loras College in 1961 as an assistant professor in the psychology department. He was promoted to associate professor in 1969 and professor in 1974. While continuing to teach, Barta was named academic dean in 1977 and became the president of Loras College in 1987. In 1994, the Archbishop appointed Barta regional vicar for the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and he was named vicar general in 1999. After his retirement, he served as vice chancellor on the Loras College Board of Regents.
Learn more about the Loras Legacy Symposium.
