EMU's Undergraduate Symposium turns 25

As an undergraduate writing major at EMU, Dave Coverly remembers being surprised when a professor asked him to read a class assignment at the 1985 Undergraduate Symposium.

"I thought I was writing pretty weird stuff at the time," he said, remembering the request to read his short story as flattering, but unforeseen.

SYMPOSIUM COVER : This is the design David Coverly, a 1987 Eastern Michigan University graduate, created to depict the 25th anniversary of EMU's Undergraduate Symposium. This design was used on the cover of the Winter 2005 Exemplar, EMU's magazine. Coverly, who now writes and draws "Speed Bump," a nationally syndicated cartoon, participated in the Symposium as an undergraduate.

Coverly said he does not recall thinking much before that moment about the Symposium, an annual EMU tradition since 1981. But he has certainly thought about it since.

"Being chosen to read my work had a big impact on me. It was a supreme confidence builder. Think of it: You're a kid at a major university where all the kids are doing the same thing, and someone tells you that you are very good at it. It gave me confidence in my creativity," Coverly said.

Coverly, who graduated from EMU in 1987, has since used that creativity to write and draw "Speed Bump," a nationally syndicated cartoon that appears in more than 200 newspapers; create a line of cards promoted by American Greetings; and compose two books, "Caution Speed Bump: Collection of Cartoon Skidmarks," released in 2000, and "Speed Bump: Cartoons for Idea People," released in November 2004.

For the past 25 years, nearly 2,500 EMU undergraduate students like Coverly have had the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research, an academic process more commonly available at research-intensive universities with multiple doctoral programs, small private colleges and in graduate schools.

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