Annual Research Conference (ARC) 2025 Recap

Approximately 330 students presented on this year’s theme: Exploring Wellness: Health, Community, and Resilience

Inver Hills Community College held the Annual Research Conference (ARC) 2025 Wednesday, April 23, 2025, and Thursday, April 24, 2024, in the Fine Arts building on the college’s campus in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.

ARC gave Inver Hills students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to showcase their work and projects. This year’s ARC theme was Exploring Wellness: Health, Community, and Resilience. The event provided participants with opportunities to improve key skills such as communication, organization, public presentation, active listening, and the importance of questioning general assumptions and basic argumentative structures.

Jennie Simning, MLIS, an Inver Hills librarian and ARC 2025 Committee member, reported that this year’s conference had a great turnout of student presenters. “Looks like we had around three hundred and thirty-two student presenters,” Jennie said, “one hundred and twenty-two on Wednesday and one hundred and ten on Thursday.”

Marika Reese, MSW, MA, Inver Hills social justice studies faculty, served along with Lisa Tracy, MA, biology faculty, as this year’s ARC co-chairs. “One of the most rewarding parts of the conference was seeing students take pride in their work and share their passions with the broader college community,” Marika said. “Moments like these remind us why opportunities for research and scholarship are so important.”

Kathryn Klopfleisch, MA, Inver Hills English faculty, served on the ARC 2025 Committee. “For me, what makes the conference so much fun is witnessing that moment when students realize that their research matters to people and they have expertise to share,” Kathryn said. “The minute someone asks them questions or says, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that!’, students seem to stand up a little straighter.”