College of the Mainland Academic and Creative Symposium

People participating in conference sitting in dark hall.
Our intention is to enable students and their supporters to think more deeply than we’re able to in the classroom while sharing in formal and less formal networking opportunities.

The Academic and Creative Symposium is an annual academic conference hosted by College of the Mainland in Texas City. Our primary mission is to move students from being consumers of knowledge to creators of knowledge by engaging them in professional academic discourse. Just as professionals share research with colleagues, this symposium provides students with the platform to:

  • Showcase Original Work: Present class projects or independent research to a wider audience. 
  • Engage in Discourse: Receive feedback from peers and faculty to refine and improve your ideas. 
  • Professional Growth: Develop the public speaking and networking skills essential for university transfer and career success.

Open to high school, dual credit, university, community college students, and independent scholars.

Learn About This Year’s Theme

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Academic Symposium Promotional Spot

Helpful Links

Participate

Prepare

Highlights & Recognition

How to Start

We invite you to contact Professor Dalel Serda (dserda@com.edu) and/or Professor Gwendolynn Barbee-Yow (gbarbee@com.edu) if you want elaboration on possibilities. Please submit 150 to 200-word abstracts through our abstract submission link by Thursday, February 4, 2027, at 11:59 pm.

Please follow the abstract protocols and conventions of the subject/discipline (i.e., STEM, humanities, fine arts, social science, workforce) you select. For specifics, please ask a professor or someone you admire and/or trust who may serve as an advisor or mentor for your project or contact us directly. This event is free and open to the public. You do not need an advisor or mentor to submit an abstract for a project presentation. You may work alone as an independent scholar. This event is free and open to regional high school, community college, independent scholars, and undergraduate university students. Please limit your abstract submissions to two per person.

Important:

Once you submit your abstract, we will review it and accept or reject your project by a week after the abstract submission deadline. If you are accepted, we expect you to prepare a 10- to 12-minute presentation. Please prepare a visual aid, save it on a flashdrive, and bring it with you to the symposium. You will hand the flashdrive to our tech helper before your scheduled presentation session begins. We will not have the means to connect your laptop nor will there be time to search email for your visual aid. Please follow the above protocol.

Note: Work to offer your audience an argument and support it with evidence. Ideally, your work—whatever the subject—is contextualized in a researched conversation. Bring something new to an existing discussion or area. Make your argument clear and connect your presentation to the theme in some way.

This year, we will not award winners according to rank. We will omit numerical scoring entirely, provide exclusively qualitative feedback, and award six $100 gift cards to presenters chosen via a lottery system who are present at the end of the day. Our goal is to resist suggesting that we can rank quality at this point when our event has grown as much as it has. Instead, we honor your labor, students, and will award your commitment to the day’s event. Winners must be present to be eligible for awards. We will not be able to accept proxies.

Student Presentation Examples

View on YouTube

Abstract Information

An abstract is a clear and concise summary of your research project or creative work, highlighting your intentions, arguments, and significant outcomes rather than serving as a simple checklist of tasks. In STEM disciplines, it typically covers background, methods, results, and implications, while in the humanities, it focuses on contextualizing the researcher’s central argument. 

Learn About Abstract & Presentation Guidelines

Symposium Scholarships

This year, we will not award winners according to rank. We will omit numerical scoring entirely, provide exclusively qualitative feedback, and award six $100 gift cards to presenters chosen via a lottery system who are present at the end of the day.

Our goal is to resist suggesting that we can rank quality at this point when our event has grown as much as it has. Instead, we honor your labor, students, and will award your commitment to the day’s event. Winners must be present to be eligible for awards.

Previous Scholarship Winners

Academic and Creative Symposium

Dalel Serda
Professor of English | Co-Chair
dserda@com.edu
409-933-8497

Gwendolynn Barbee-Yow
Associate Professor of English | Co-Chair
gbarbee@com.edu
409-933-8776

Student outside carrying books and making a call on their cell phone.