Hope College will host hundreds of scholars during the 2013 annual meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters on Friday, March 22.

About 600 are anticipated for the interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary event, which will feature approximately 450 presentations in more than 30 sections in the sciences, humanities and social sciences.  The majority of presenters at the conference will be from colleges and universities, with the others employed by public libraries, government agencies, research organizations, non-profit groups or K-12 schools or independent scholars.

The presenters will include approximately three dozen members of the faculty and students from Hope who will make a total of 26 presentations in the sections focused on chemistry; communication; education; French and Italian language and literature; geological sciences; health and human services; history; interdisciplinary studies; language and literature; law; library and information sciences; medieval studies; philosophy; Spanish language, literature and culture; and women’s and gender studies.

The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters was established in 1894 to promote exchange among researchers at colleges, universities, government agencies, research and business organizations.  Since 2004, the academy has been located at Alma College and is funded primarily by individual and institutional membership dues and conference registration fees.  Currently 33 colleges and universities, including Hope, support the academy through institutional memberships.

Among its other activities, the academy also publishes the “Michigan Academician,” a peer-reviewed, academic journal.  Each year one issue of the journal contains the abstracts of all papers presented at the annual conference.

In addition to Hope, the institutional members of the academy are:  Adrian College, Alma College, Andrews University, Aquinas College, Baker College of Flint, Baker College of Owosso, Calvin College, Central Michigan University, Cornerstone University, Ferris State University, Finlandia University, Glen Oaks Community College, Grand Valley State University, Henry Ford Community College, Kettering University , Lake Superior State University, Lawrence Technological University, Madonna University, Marygrove College, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Northwood University, Oakland Community College, Oakland University, Olivet College, Saginaw Valley State University, Schoolcraft College, Thomas Cooley Law School, University of Detroit Mercy, University of Michigan – Flint, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.

More information about the academy and the conference, including a listing of all the presentations and presenters, is available online at www.themichiganacademy.org.