Recently, five students from the University of South Carolina Beaufort participated in a daylong event, entitled “A Symposium Celebrating Ten Years of The Speiser &amp; Easterling-Hallman Collection of Ernest Hemingway.” This event took place at the University of South Carolina and was sponsored by the Irvin Department of Rare Books &amp; Special Collections and the Hollings Special Collections Library.
The event consisted of seminar-style research presentations by undergraduate students from USCB, Coastal Carolina University, Columbia College, USC-Columbia, and Erskine College.  Each participant presented an original work of research on some aspect of Ernest Hemingway’s literary career.
The main public program featured two distinguished speakers on Hemingway.
This event was open to all undergraduate students in both the University of South Carolina system and any other college or university in the state of South Carolina. The application process consisted of a written abstract reviewed by four judges and only a select few were invited to attend.  Many students applied from throughout the state, but only 11 were selected to present their research.
Chair of the English Department at USCB, Carl Eby, Ph.D., presented the students in his Hemingway class the opportunity to apply for this event at the beginning of this semester.  The USCB students chosen to present research by USC are all English majors: Meredith Holmes (senior), Ashley Waisanen (junior), Jordan Dallas (junior), Patti Robinson (senior) and Stefny Ankney (senior).
With regards to his students’ contributing to the event, Eby stated “These students are doing some very sophisticated scholarship, including work with unpublished manuscript material, and it is wonderful to have an event like this for them to present their work.”
For these students, participating in this event is a prestigious accomplishment.  The presentation of their individual research represents the culmination of their hard work. Many of the participants from USCB plan to attend graduate school in the future.  Events like this showcase the scholarly commitment and dedication of the student — definitely of great value to the majority of graduate schools.