FHSU University Communications
The 21st annual John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activity Days (SACAD) was held on May 1 at Fort Hays State University. Despite an early threat of rain, the clearing weather provided a pleasant backdrop for this year’s expanded event, allowing for games on the quad and snacks on the Union patio.
Created in 2005 to allow university faculty, staff, and students to share their scholarly and creative work, SACAD has grown into an inclusive week-long event culminating with presentations of scholarly and creative works at an on-campus open house. Presentations were held in multiple campus locations to better display the impressive array of projects and posters.
This year, SACAD added two new showcases. These new categories included the Open Educational Resources (OER) Showcase, which highlighted educational materials (such as textbooks, problem sets, assessments, slide decks, videos, lesson plans, study guides, etc.) that can be used for free and without permission, and the Community-Engaged Showcase, which focused on coursework and activities that extend beyond the FHSU campus.
In the Schmidt Foundation Center for Art and Design, students displayed more than 140 art and design works. There were sculptures in a wide array of materials, paintings, and drawings, to name just a few of the types of creative works from this year’s artists. Many creative works could also be viewed through Tebo Library’s Scholars Repository.
The traditional poster presentations, held in the Memorial Union, also saw growth this year, with 120 submissions for the in-person poster session, the largest to-date. Posters were available for viewing all day in the FHSU Memorial Union, which also housed the Open Educational Resources (OER) Showcase and a Community-Engaged Showcase. The OER included a poster exhibit alongside a printed OER textbook produced by two FHSU faculty members. The Community-Engaged Showcase identified posters that included community partners as collaborators.
Also included this year were several musical performances, applied industrial technology posters, and creative projects. There were a record-breaking 292 submissions for SACAD. As observers made their way through the various performances and displays throughout campus, they were invited to vote on two People’s Choice Awards, one for scholarly works and one for creative works. The two winners were:
• Nicholas Di Meo, Rivoli, Italy; Emanuele Polizzi, Palermo, Italy; Dr. Weihui Fu: A Study of Students’ Use and Perspectives on Generative AI Tools— People’s Choice Award winners for the academic poster display.
• Ashley Dawley, Topeka: "Where the Spirits Dwell"!— People’s Choice Award winner for creative works.
“The 21st annual John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activity Days (SACAD) offered the community a look at our largest showcase,” said Dr. April Terry, professor of criminal justice and Scholarship Environment Committee (SEC) Event Coordinator. “We have continued the tradition of showcasing academic posters and creative works, while continuing to build on our inclusion of musical performances and applied technology projects, with the addition of the community-engaged showcase and open-educational resources showcase.”
About John Heinrichs
The FHSU Scholarly and Creative Activities Day is named in honor of the late Dr. John F. Heinrichs (1957-2014). A popular Geosciences professor, an internationally renowned Arctic researcher, and an esteemed colleague, Dr. Heinrichs had a tremendous impact on Fort Hays State University. He was a key supporter of faculty and student research, and his efforts were largely responsible for launching Research and Creative Activities Week, now known as John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activities Day, in his honor.