W&M to be a hub of interdisciplinary student research at upcoming Graduate Research Symposium
For Sarah Glosson ’98, M.A. ’09, Ph.D. ’15, director of the Arts & Sciences Graduate Center, one of the keys to success as a graduate student researcher is as elusive as it is vital.
“Interdisciplinarity helps feed curiosity and inquiry,” she said. “However, the nature of graduate study often means grad students can easily remain siloed within their programs with very few opportunities to meet or learn from graduate scholars outside their field.”
The Graduate Research Symposium (GRS), a multi-day event hosted annually by the Graduate Center, aims to bridge the divide between master’s and doctoral researchers in disparate disciplines. This year’s Symposium, to be held Feb. 27-28 at the Sadler Center, will elevate interdisciplinary dialogue, not only by increasing participation from William & Mary graduate students, but also by achieving robust engagement from other universities throughout the United States.
“Ours is the only interdisciplinary graduate-focused symposium of its kind that draws master’s and doctoral students from around the country,” Glosson said. “There are only a handful of similar events at other universities, but these are typically single-day events limited to participants from within a single university.”
In a relatively short span of time, the GRS grew from humble beginnings into the hub of interdisciplinary graduate scholarship it is today. Initially convened by the American Studies Program as the American Cultures Conference in 2002, the GRS soon became a signature A&S event, inviting graduate students from diverse areas of study and all stages of the degree process. After collaborating with the Charles Center on joint graduate-undergraduate symposia in 2023 and 2024, the Graduate Center is returning to its previous format for the 2025 GRS. Undergraduate honors projects will be showcased in their own independent forum at the Charles Center’s Spring Honors Research Symposium, scheduled for April 3-4.
This year, the GRS will feature two days of research panels that will place scholars from different fields in conversation, culminating the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 28, with an interdisciplinary poster session and networking reception. Organized by a dedicated team of A&S graduate volunteers and supported by the Office of Graduate Studies, the program is tailored to the academic and professional needs of master’s and doctoral students.
According to American studies doctoral candidate Jay Jolles, chair of the GRS Organizing Committee and a presenter at the Symposium, now also serving as assistant director of the Writing and Communication Center, the GRS helps to address “the scarcity of low-stakes professional development opportunities for graduate students, particularly early in their careers.”
With no registration fee and an eager audience of fellow emerging scholars, the Symposium offers a “professionalization experience that manages to be supportive while still being intellectually rewarding,” Jolles explained. “This combination of accessibility, support, and academic rigor makes the GRS quite unique.”
Jennifer Browne, an M.A./Ph.D. student in anthropology and also a member of the Organizing Committee, agreed. “The GRS is a great learning opportunity for those who have not yet presented at a symposium or have limited experiences and want to refine their public speaking skills,” she said. “Considering how vital conferences are in the professional world, the GRS can be a great tool to prepare.”
Such professional development is not limited to GRS presenters and attendees. Members of the Organizing Committee repeatedly stressed how planning the Symposium has helped prepare them for careers in academia and beyond.
Jolles, who first joined the committee in 2023 and is now serving as its chair for the second consecutive year, said of his experience, “It’s given me chances to work with colleagues I might never have met otherwise, connect with faculty outside the classroom, and pick up skills I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.”
Psychological sciences master’s student Kathryn Gour ’24, who, like Jolles, is a GRS presenter as well as a member of the committee, credits her service with providing an invaluable preview of the interdisciplinary dialogue that will define the Symposium.
“Being a part of the Organizing Committee has allowed me to view and evaluate hundreds of graduate students’ projects, many of which are outside of my discipline,” she said. “The flourish and storytelling I have seen in many students’ projects has inspired me to improve my own writing and presentation skills.”
In order to maximize presenters’ and attendees’ ability to benefit from their fellow graduate students’ work across fields, the 2025 GRS Organizing Committee has prioritized outreach to other universities to an unprecedented degree. American studies doctoral candidate Morgan Brittain, who works with Glosson as a graduate assistant, played an instrumental role in researching graduate centers at peer and near-peer institutions of W&M to extend invitations to the Symposium.
As a testament to the success of these efforts, nearly a quarter of the more than 100 presenters at this year’s GRS will be visiting from other institutions, as far away as the University of Georgia and the University of New Hampshire.
“By inviting scholars from other universities, we’re broadening our students’ networks and perspectives, while also expanding the reach and visibility of our graduate programs,” Glosson said.
As Jolles added, strong participation from other Virginia institutions such as Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia will enable W&M graduate students to form “local partnerships” and build meaningful collaborations while still working toward their degrees.
Still, some of the most important and enduring cross-disciplinary conversations the Symposium will foster are those among departments and programs at W&M. By bringing together students from the humanities, social sciences and STEM fields within A&S, Glosson hopes the GRS will provide a template and a forum for ongoing collaborations between A&S and the newly formed School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics, soon to house the applied science, computer science, data science and physics departments. Such synergy across the university’s several schools will enrich research and strengthen the graduate experience for all.
“One of my favorite parts of the GRS is getting to engage with scholars from many different disciplines,” said anthropology doctoral student Victoria Gum, winner of the William & Mary Interdisciplinary Award for Excellence in Research, the Symposium’s highest honor. “In my own work, I utilize anthropological and archaeological theory alongside scholarship from history and science and technology studies.”
Gum will present her paper “They Paved Paradise: Historic Preservation and Erasure at the First Baptist Church” at the Research Award Winners’ Panel, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. There, she will be joined by the top humanities prize winner, history doctoral candidate Jennifer Merriman M.A. ’23, and the top natural and computational sciences prize winner, physics doctoral candidate Jarred Loughran.
“I am passionate about community-engaged scholarship and ensuring that research is accessible to a wide audience, and I can’t wait to share my work with the GRS panel,” Gum said.
The Symposium is open to all members of the university community at no cost. The A&S Graduate Center encourages all W&M graduate students to join the interdisciplinary dialogue — and invites faculty to show their support for the university’s graduate community — by attending and volunteering for the GRS later this month.