All second-year students are required to participate in a colloquium in which they present a summary of their research interests to an audience of their peers and professors.  This colloquium is intended to be a friendly event in which students are encouraged to begin engaging in scholarly presentations in ways that will increasingly be important to them later as professionals. A student’s talk should be based on his/her proposed dissertation research. Each talk lasts 10-15 minutes (learning timing is part of the process), followed by 5-10 minutes of questions and discussion. (Times will vary according to the number of presentations.  The Graduate Director will notify students well in advance as to the maximum length of their presentation.) Students are encouraged to talk about (not read from) a paper and use any relevant audiovisual aids such as overheads, PowerPoint, video clips, or maps. If PowerPoint is used, students are encouraged to avoid slides with text only on them and instead use the program for photos, charts, maps, or other audiovisual aids.