{"id":50085,"date":"2026-03-17T14:59:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/?p=50085"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:01:08","slug":"create-innovate-and-inspire-at-27th-annual-student-achievement-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/17\/create-innovate-and-inspire-at-27th-annual-student-achievement-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Create, Innovate and Inspire at 27th Annual Student Achievement Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-50141 img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/SAC26_1620x800-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Student Achievement Conference 2026 &bull; Create, Innovate, Inspire &bull;&nbsp;Wednesday, April 8, 2026\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1264\" data-bp=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/SAC26_1620x800.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/SAC26_1620x800-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/SAC26_1620x800-1536x759.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Student research, scholarship and creative accomplishments will be on display April 8 as the Bemidji State University campus gathers for its 27th Annual Student Achievement Conference.<\/p>\n<p>The conference includes more than two dozen oral presentations and 50 poster presentations from a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, in addition to art and design exhibits. The in-person conference will be accompanied by an online poster exhibit, which anyone can visit through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gather.town\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">GatherTown<i title=\"External link\" class=\"bsu-icon bsu-icon-external-link small ms-1\"><\/i><\/a>. Submissions for presentation are still being accepted for this year.<\/p>\n<p>For the third time, this year&rsquo;s Student Achievement Conference also will include a Unified basketball experience in the Gillett Wellness Center. Unified is a Special Olympics program that promotes inclusion through sport. Unified sports create opportunities for people of all abilities to compete and break through stereotypes.<\/p>\n<p>A complete list of presenters and presentation topics will be available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/conferences\/sac\/\">conference&rsquo;s website<\/a> closer to the date of the event. All Student Achievement Conference activities and events are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n<h2>Keynote Address: Dr. Christopher J. Waller<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-50090 alignright img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Christopher-Waller.jpeg\" alt=\"A portrait of Christopher Waller wearing a grey suit and a blue tie.\" width=\"272\" height=\"340\" data-bp=\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Christopher-Waller.jpeg\">Dr. Christopher J. Waller, one of seven members of the Federal Reserve System&rsquo;s Washington, D.C.-based Board of Governors and a Bemidji State University alumnus, will deliver this year&rsquo;s Student Achievement Conference keynote address.<\/p>\n<p>Waller will discuss how his background and experience at Bemidji State helped prepare him for a leadership role in the Federal Reserve System during the conference&rsquo;s opening ceremony, which begins at 1 p.m. in the upper Hobson Union&rsquo;s Beaux Arts Ballroom.<\/p>\n<p>Waller took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on December 18, 2020, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to his appointment, Waller had served as executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2009.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his experience in the Federal Reserve System, Waller served as a professor and the Gilbert F. Schaefer Chair of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. He was also a research fellow with Notre Dame&rsquo;s Kellogg Institute for International Studies. From 1998 to 2003, Waller was a professor and the Carol Martin Gatton Chair of Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics at the University of Kentucky. During that time, he was also a research fellow at the Center for European Integration Studies at the University of Bonn. From 1992 to 1994, he served as the director of graduate studies at Indiana University&rsquo;s Department of Economics, where he also served as associate professor and an assistant professor.<\/p>\n<p>Waller received his bachelor&rsquo;s degree in economics from Bemidji State University and his master&rsquo;s and doctorate degrees from Washington State University.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalreserve.gov\/aboutthefed\/fedexplained\/who-we-are.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Learn more<i title=\"External link\" class=\"bsu-icon bsu-icon-external-link small ms-1\"><\/i><\/a> about the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n<h2>Student Achievement Conference: Schedule of Events<\/h2>\n<p><strong>10&ndash;11:30 a.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Oral Presentations; Memorial Hall<\/p>\n<p><strong>10 a.m.&ndash;noon<\/strong> &mdash; Unified Basketball Extravaganza; Gillett Wellness Center<\/p>\n<p><strong>11:30 a.m.&ndash;1 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Fry Bread Taco Sale; American Indian Resource Center. Proceeds benefit BSU&rsquo;s Council of Indian Students.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1&ndash;2 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Student Achievement Conference Opening Ceremony; Beaux Arts Ballroom, upper Hobson Union<\/p>\n<p><strong>2&ndash;3 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Poster Presentations; Beaux Arts Ballroom<\/p>\n<p><strong>3-4 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Student Activities Leadership Recognition; Beaux Arts Ballroom<\/p>\n<p>BSU recognizes outstanding student leaders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4-5 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; Oral Presentations &amp; Panels; Memorial Hall<\/p>\n<p><strong>5 p.m.<\/strong> &mdash; School of Music recital; Main Theater, Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex<\/p>\n<p>Vocal and instrumental recital featuring BSU School of Music students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BSU alum, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller to deliver keynote at April 8 student achievement celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":50089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[872,25,980,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-people","category-strategic-plan","category-top-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50085"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50143,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50085\/revisions\/50143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}