THE HISTORY OF THE GURC

The second annual GURC was held on January 24 - 25, 2014, at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. During this conference, attendees presented research in all disciplines, and from all institutions throughout the southeast. Outstanding posters and presentations were awarded prizes. The conference featured keynote speakers: Dr. Patricia Marstella, Director of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Science Program of Emory University, an Expert NIH bioethicist, and Dr. David Resnik, a frequent speaker on topics of research practice and ethics.

In 2014 and 2015, Georgia Southern University's Division of Continuing Education hosted the 3rd and 4th Annual GURC at the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center in Statesboro, GA.

 Georgia Southern's keynote speaker was Georgia Southern graduate, Jemelleh Coes. Coes was a doctoral student in Education Theory at the University of Georgia. As Georgia’s 2014 teacher of the year, she had several speaking engagements including her keynote presentation at the 2014 Georgia Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

In 2016, Georgia College & State University hosted the 5th Annual GURC Conference on their campus in Milledgeville, Georgia. Dr. Rosalie Richards was the keynote speaker. Dr. Richards, former GCSU faculty member and current associate provost for Faculty Development and professor of Chemistry and Education at Stetson University spoke to guests on marketing their undergraduate research to graduate schools and future employers. 

In 2017, Georgia College & State University hosted the 6th Annual GURC Conference on its campus in Milledgeville, Georgia on October 27th and 28th. The Keynote speaker was Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna, President Emeritus (1994-2003) and Regents' Professor of Marketing, University of West Georgia. His speech was on "Why student research and creative work is relevant in a rapidly changing society." Of those attending the keynote speech, 27.3% found it valuable and 70% found it very valuable. 

In 2018 and 2019, University of North Georgia hosted the 7th & 8th Annual GURC Conferences.  The 8th Annual GURC Conference was the largest GURC to date with 181 presentations, 75 of those being oral presentations and 105 being posters.  Also in 2019, GURC saw 4 new grad schools come and added 2 more to the roster from 2018.  During these two years, Dr. Randal Abler from Georgia Tech (2018) and Dr. Alicia Cunningham-Bryant from Westminster college (2019) gave keynote presentations regarding their experiences in undergraduate research. 

In 2020 and 2021 GURC was hosted at the University of West Georgia.  The 9th and 10th conferences were held during the covid pandemic and were quickly and proficiently moved to online format and included local keynote speakers.  GURC is especially grateful to Kate Theobald for her excellent leadership and efforts in providing a professional and enjoyable set of conferences.  The Keynote speaker for 2021 was Dr. Leah Haught presenting "#MedievalsDiditFirst: Connecting the Past to the Present through Research".

In 2022, GURC was at Valdosta State University and combined an online option along with the onsite option.  This allowed students options and allowed for non-traditional students, differently abled, or totally online students to participate.  We ended up with record numbers of presentations and visitors thanks to different University/College participation around the state and the advisors. We had over 200 participants and visitors. The lunch speaker was Dean James LaPlant.  The 2023 conference will continue to grow the University/College participation around the state and will make sure the lunch includes the cheesecake option from last year.

The 2023 conference was a great success with over 400 participants and visitors to the event.  There were both onsite and online options that required 8 sessions an hour to accommodate all the student presentations.  The lunch included the famous cheesecake and speaker Ms. Sandra Jones MA.  During the lunch event, VSU URC Chair and current GURC President Dr. Lavonna Lovern officially passed the crown and scepter to Oxford/Emory.  Congratulations Oxford/Emory!