MTSU students often toil one or more semesters — and sometimes year-round — to be part of the annual Scholars Week, which will be held March 18-22 across the MTSU campus.

MTSU Scholars Week is an annual weeklong celebration of research, scholarship, and creative projects.

MTSU Educational Leadership professor Donald Snead, left, and junior child development and family studies major Tori Burton laugh as she responds to his question involving her group’s undergraduate research poster shown March 18 during the College of Education Scholars Day poster presentation event in the COE Building. Burton, 25, of Spokane, Wash., and four classmates combined research efforts into a poster titled “Discipline Strategy for Behavioral Disorders Through the Decades,” including the 1980s, ’90s, 2000s and 2010s. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

All events are free and open to the public. To find parking and campus buildings, a campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap.

Scholars Week highlights include:

• The College of Education Distinguished Scholars Session, “Opening Up Pathways in Education: Diversity in STEM,” featuring Reggie Carruth from La Vergne (Tennessee) Middle School and MTSU professors Judith Iriarte-Gross, Chrisila Pettey and Ginger Rowell. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, in COE 160.Iriarte-Gross is a chemistry professor and Women in STEM Center director; Pettey is a computer science professor; and Rowell is a professor of mathematical sciences.

• The College of Media and Entertainment Interview with Julien Baker, a former MTSU student who is an indie singer/songwriter, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in Business and Aerospace Building Room S-102.

• The College of Media and Entertainment’s 48 Hours Game Design Jam, set from 5 p.m. March 23 until 5 p.m. Sunday, March 24, in Room 2600 of the Miller Education Center on Bell Street.

• The Universitywide Poster Exposition. Undergraduate, graduate and faculty research posters will be on display starting at 12:40 p.m. Friday, March 22, in the Student Union Ballroom on the second floor. Judging will take place from 12:40 to 2:15 p.m., with a brief awards ceremony at 3 p.m. Colleges within the university also will conduct their own events during special Scholars Days throughout the week.

• James E. Walker Library poster display — First-place winners of the universitywide poster event will be on display in the atrium from March 25 through April 10.

To learn more about Scholars Week, the complete schedule and students’ and faculty members’ abstracts a committee selected for participation, visit www.mtsu.edu/scholarsweek.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

MTSU senior biochemistry major Paeton Poynter, left, of Hartsville, Tenn. and molecular bioscience doctoral candidate Gale Beaubien of Murfreesboro discuss the science behind the research Poynter and others are involved with Tuesday (March 19) during the College of Basic and Applied Sciences Scholars Day poster presentations in the Science Building’s Liz and Creighton Rhea Atrium. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

Miranda McBride, 24, an MTSU geosciences graduate student from Nashville, Tenn., answers questions from judge Pete Neff, an aerospace professor, Tuesday (March 19) during the College of Basic and Applied Sciences Scholars Day poster session in the Science Building atrium. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)