Mission

Undergraduate research is often contained in a vacuum. For the great majority of undergraduate students, our work is single use, self-serving, and limited to the classroom. We research and write without feedback from peers, without an outlet that does more than reduce our work to a grade, and without hope of contributing to a larger conversation about the issues that drive us. The relative isolation of undergraduate research serves to disconnect us from the practice and action of social science research.

Our experience as undergraduate students enables us to make this critique; however, it has also given us the tools to respond to it in generative ways. In founding Plenum, we are calling attention to the fact that there is this asymmetry in knowledge production within the academy. More importantly, we are working to address that asymmetry through cultivating a space in which undergraduate work can flourish — not only encouraging better research, but better geographers, better students, and better people.

At Plenum, our mission is threefold — we work to foster academic growth on the individual level, build community within undergraduate geography, and contribute to larger conversations in geography with high-quality undergraduate research. Through Plenum we aim to establish a dialogue that brings together undergraduates, graduates, and faculty in a setting which encourages academic exploration and growth. We are committed to building a community of undergraduate geographers, and through that community transforming students into scholars.

To accompish this, we:

  • Host a variety of different social events that engage with our community
  • Publish notable academic research papers which seek to contribute to larger conversations within Geography
  • Publish notable GIS mapping projects which seek to uncover hidden spatial relationships, ideas, and/or trends
  • Provide feedback services for students seeking help on their academic research papers (not just Geograpy)

About Our Name

Plenum: a space or all space, every part of which is full of matter; a general assembly of all members, especially of a legislative body; the quality or state of being full.

At its most basic, Plenum is a filled space.

In the Journal’s conception, implementation, and continual renegotiation, we ultimately work towards filling the vacuum into which most undergraduate research goes. The founding editorial board members feel that the metaphor of a plenum – a space that is full – is one worth striving for. We do not presume to know what will fill Plenum – we hope for a space filled with ideas, collaboration, support, stories, community, expression, research, and place.

You must fill it.