{"id":61286,"date":"2026-04-20T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=61286"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:00:57","slug":"ideas-take-shape-at-ninth-annual-ace-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/ideas-take-shape-at-ninth-annual-ace-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Ideas take shape at ninth annual ACE Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Celebration of student scholarship returns with first-ever ACE Festival career fair<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMU held its ninth annual Academic and Creative Excellence (ACE) Festival on Wednesday and Thursday. The campuswide event, hosted by the Provost\u2019s Office and organized by its Intellectual Life Committee, offered students opportunities to learn and engage with one another and to showcase their research, creative projects and papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her opening remarks before the festival’s keynote address on Wednesday, Interim President Rev. Dr. Shannon W. Dycus<\/strong> described the ACE Festival as a \u201ccelebration of student scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where ideas take shape, not only in papers and research, but also in art, performance, and creative expression, and in the courage it takes to share one\u2019s thinking with others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere, students learn from one another,\u201d she added. \u201cWe engage perspectives across our fields and practice the kind of communication and collaboration that will shape our lives beyond today and this semester.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Career fair<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Students connect with local employers at a career fair in the Hall of Nations on Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new addition to this year\u2019s ACE Festival was a career fair held Thursday inside the University Commons Hall of Nations. The event, hosted by the Alumni Engagement Office, gave students a chance to interact directly with employers, connect with alumni professionals, explore career options, and pursue internships or jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employers represented a range of industries, including Augusta Health, Merck, Park View Federal Credit Union, and Momentum Earthworks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those employers was Kirby Dean \u201992<\/strong>, director of parks and recreation for Rockingham County. He previously served as head coach of the EMU men\u2019s basketball team for 15 years, leading the \u201cRunnin\u2019 Royals\u201d to the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although his department didn\u2019t have any full-time job openings, he said he\u2019s always hiring part-time workers to staff the rec center desk, rake fields during baseball tournaments, or mow grass. He said the career fair was a great way to build relationships and connect with students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like there are just good kids here,\u201d Dean said. \u201cThey were good when I went here from 1988 to 1992, they were good when I coached here from 2003 to 2018, and they\u2019re good now. They\u2019re the kind of people I\u2019m generally looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another employer at the career fair represented the local school division. Jeron Baker<\/strong>, assistant director of human resources for Harrisonburg City Public Schools, said the division typically looks to fill between 50 and 60 jobs each year, mostly teaching positions in math, science, elementary education, and English Language Learner (ELL) classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former associate director of EMU admissions said EMU graduates have a natural understanding of the diversity and complexity within Harrisonburg\u2019s student community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey sense the nuances of the human component and understand that education is not just about outcomes, but about process,\u201d he said. \u201cThe process of knowing our students more deeply and understanding their systems more fully\u2014it\u2019s just something that comes naturally to EMU students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 60% of students in the city\u2019s public schools speak Spanish at home, Baker said, and 50 to 60 languages are spoken by students across its two high schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEMU\u2019s ability to create cross-cultural experiences for its students while also bringing in international populations helps students develop cultural competency in ways that are unique to EMU,\u201d he said. \u201cThat supports our populations, our students, our families, and the broader vision HCPS has for its students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article published in the Daily News-Record<\/em><\/a> last week, EMU sophomore Francisco Rodriguez<\/strong> said the event offered him a chance to look at a lot of different career paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSales is a big passion of mine,\u201d he told the newspaper, \u201cbut understanding there are other options available here, it\u2019s really nice to be able to check it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Presentations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP PHOTO: Senior nursing majors Emily Guin, Kristina Suslaev, and Reina Landa give a presentation on the effects of social media use on mental health in children and adolescents. | Senior engineering major Levi Stutzman discusses gentrification trends in Washington D.C. and Denver during a poster session at the Suter Science Center. | Chase Comer, a senior majoring in political science and history, presents research on shifting voting patterns in Virginia\u2019s Buchanan and Rockingham counties. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students from a wide range of majors presented their academic research Thursday in oral presentations and poster sessions across campus. Topics included the concentration of antioxidants in cinnamon bark, the effect of data centers on surrounding infrastructure and resources, the relationship between trauma and homelessness, and the impact of immigration enforcement on local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Emily Guin<\/strong>, part of a group of nursing majors presenting at Martin Chapel early Thursday morning, said her favorite thing about the ACE Festival was attending other presentations and supporting her peers. \u201cI feel like I learn something new at every presentation,\u201d she said. For instance, she said that last year she learned childhood obesity rates in Harrisonburg were higher than the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guin will work at Inova Fairfax Hospital\u2019s Emergency Department after graduation. Her group presented on the relationship between social media use among children and adolescents and their emotional well-being and mental health. She said they researched the topic because of how relevant and new it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s crazy how impactful social media is, both positive and negative,\u201d Guin said. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine growing up in such a digital time now. It makes me feel so old to say that, but I can\u2019t fathom having everything posted on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many students on campus, engineering senior Levi Stutzman <\/strong>had a busy day of presentations. He was part of a cohort that tracked EMU\u2019s carbon emissions and presented findings showing the university is not on track to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035 (as outlined in its Climate Action Plan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also delivered a poster presentation analyzing census data from 2000 and 2020 for areas of Washington D.C. and Denver to chart gentrification in those cities. Later that afternoon, he and three other students gave an engineering capstone presentation on a \u201csingle-axis shake table\u201d they designed to simulate sesmic movement and its impact on structures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to show off your projects and see what everyone else is working on,\u201d Stutzman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a special time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another engineering major, junior Micah Mast<\/strong>, presented a 3D printer he revived and upgraded. EMU purchased the printer, a Makerbot Replicator+, in 2018. Because the machine\u2019s parts and software were discontinued, it had largely been unused for several years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was always the printer nobody wanted to use because the prints were low quality,\u201d Mast said. \u201cIt just kind of sat there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his project, he replaced the printer\u2019s proprietary control system with modern open-source electronics, resulting in improved print quality, a faster workflow, and long-term serviceability, all for about $150. The upgraded MakerBot adds a fourth working printer to EMU\u2019s collection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis goes along with sustainability, using things that otherwise would\u2019ve essentially been thrown in the trash,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mast said his favorite thing about the ACE Festival is showing the rest of the school what he spent an entire semester working toward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were countless hours of trying to get it to do what it\u2019s doing right now,\u201d he said, pointing to the machine, which was successfully printing tugboats known as the \u201c3DBenchy\u201d test print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Art exhibition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Senior VACA majors present their capstone projects at an opening reception.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Senior art students Donovan Arnason<\/strong>, Daisy Buller<\/strong>, Hollyn Miller<\/strong>, Jasmin Ruiz<\/strong>, and Allie Watkins <\/strong>presented their capstone projects during an opening reception Thursday afternoon at the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery. The exhibition will remain on display through May 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Student recital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Nina Dunsmore plays the flute during Thursday\u2019s music department student recital. She is accompanied on piano by Dominic Baldoni.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A student recital at Lehman Auditorium featured performances by vocalists Mac Rhodes-Lehman<\/strong> (bass) and Eli Stoll <\/strong>(baritone), pianists Rafael de Tablan <\/strong>and Micah Wenger<\/strong>, violinist Miriam Rhodes<\/strong>, violist Monica Ehrenfels<\/strong>, flautist Nina Dunsmore<\/strong>, and guitarist and vocalist Erin Yoder <\/strong>(alto). The musicians were accompanied by Harold Bailey<\/strong> and Dominic Baldoni <\/strong>on piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wind ensemble concert was held that evening, followed by a university choir concert on Friday as part of the weeklong ACE Festival lineup. View recordings of those concerts on the EMU Department of Music Facebook page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Authors’ Reception and Award Presentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dr. Ryan Good receives an Excellence in Teaching Award on Thursday. <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 17th annual Authors\u2019 Reception and Award Presentation recognized and celebrated the winners of EMU\u2019s Excellence in Teaching Awards. Faculty members Dr. Ryan Good<\/strong>, Dr. Kathryn Howard-Ligas<\/strong>, and Kevin Carini<\/strong> were announced as this year\u2019s recipients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click the post below for testimonials about each recipient, the winners of the student writing and academic awards, and the faculty and student authors recognized for their published scholarly works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EMU celebrates 2026 Excellence in Teaching Award recipients<\/a><\/blockquote>