The Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity has awarded Eastern faculty with travel grants and now professors get a chance to present to the campus for the sixth annual symposium for the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity.

This symposium is taking place at 8 a.m. Tuesday in the Charleston-Mattoon Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The professors have done research papers and then presented them in front of different audiences.

In the past, the center has had other speakers who had topics including health, diversity and the economy.

Jeannie Ludlow, the coordinator of Women’s Studies, said she studies literature about abortion because she works on women’s health issues. She said her research paper argues pro-choice and pro-life, which she said are two well-defined categories.

“Real life is messy and complicated and pro-choice and pro-life are too simple,” Ludlow said. “ My paper looks at several works of literature that use water as a symbol in abortion to show us that abortion is more fluid, not so strict as pro-choice and pro-life.”

Ludlow also presented at the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment in Idaho; she said all of the recipients of the grant have gone to professional conferences to present their research papers.

Not only does the conference benefit her learning, Ludlow said, she it also gives her a chance to share with students what she does in her spare time.

“A lot of times we don’t get to teach the things that are in our research, and (students) get to see their professors doing something different,” Ludlow said. “I don’t get to teach about abortion, because it wouldn’t make sense to have a whole English class about abortion.”

Lynne Curry, a professor of history, said her research topic is about early 20th Century legal cases where parents had children who died because of no medical care. She said the parents were prosecuted for different charges and because their defense was religion, it would not allow them to call a doctor.

Curry is looking at the history of this issue; Curry used her grant to travel to France.

“Any time that we can share what research going on, on campus it’s a great idea,” Curry said. “It’s an opportunity for faculty and students to see what kinds of research are going on.”

James Ochwa-Echel, the director of interdisciplinary center for global diversity, said all applicants completed an online form and only one grant, which is given to each recipient annually. He said the mission is of this event and program is to promote awareness in Africana, Asian, Latin American and Women’s studies.

“We try to promote global diversity and also we promote interdisciplinary research to pull together sources that these programs can tap into,” Ochwa-Echel said.

The grant gives up to $500 to those who apply and are offered it.

T’Nerra Butler can be reached at 581-2812n or tabutler@eiu.edu.