Thursday, February 28
8:00-9:15
Creative Writing: Elise C. Carroll Essay Contest Winners – B101 JFSB (Chair: John Bennion)
- First: Alexandra Malouf
- Second: Aliah Eberting (unable to attend)
- Third: Maren Loveland
Contemporary American Poetry & Fiction – B105 JFSB (Chair: Trent Hickman)
- Sam Jacob, “No-Man’s . . . or Women’s-Land: Ecological Power over Human Identity in The Things They Carried”
- Isaac Robertson, “‘All That Was Important In Life’: Toward a Compassionate Anthropocene in Tracy K. Smith’s ‘Watershed’”
- Dalan Grundvig, “The Writing Between the Lines: The Effects of Psychotherapy on Anne Sexton’s ‘In Celebration of My Uterus’”
Gender & Courtly Love in Medieval & Early Modern Literature – 4186 JFSB (Chair: Miranda Wilcox)
- Amanda Burrows, “‘It is required you do awake your faith’: Classifying Male and Female Christ Figures in Shakespeare’s King Lear and The Winter’s Tale”
- Julie Carlson, “Shakespeare’s Mockery of Courtly Love in As You Like It”
- Summer Weaver, “Feminist Courtly Love in Marie de France”
9:30-10:45
Parent/Child Relationships in Contemporary Black Memoirs – B105 JFSB (Chair: Keith Lawrence)
- Nicole Jacobsen, “From Parent to Child, Writer to Reader: Tracing Cultural Inheritance in Contemporary Black Memoir”
- Christian Allred, “Black Fatherhood in America through the Lens of Contemporary Memoir”
- Rachel Cutler, “Educating ‘Blackness’ in Modern America”
James Joyce & the Politics of Dubliners – 4186 JFSB (Chair: Kathryn Isaak)
- Kristina Isaak, “James Joyce: More Than Just a Modernist”
- Leah Kelson, “‘Fall of Coins’: Metaphorical and literal transaction in James Joyce’s ‘Araby’”
- McKenna Melander, “Parnell in ‘The Boarding House’”
It’s Alive! Frankenstein’s Enduring Influence – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Meridith Reed)
- Ranae Rudd, “The ‘Frankensteinian Process’ in Young Adult Novels: The Double and Monstrosity in Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider Series”
- Rebecca McKee, “The Gothic and The Gross: Frankenstein and His Friends’ Attractiveness to Children”
- Carlos Osorio Rueda, “Violence and the Near Sacred in Shelley’s Frankenstein”
Criterion Winners Panel – B101 JFSB (Chair: Mike Taylor)
- Hanann Morris, “Wonder Woman’s Fight for Autonomy: How Patty Jenkins Did What No Man Could”
- Heidi Graviet, “Our Day Will Come”
- Noelle Dickerson, “Annunciation, Crucifixion, Resurrection: Christian Symbolism in Joyce’s ‘The Dead’”
11:00-12:15
Graduate Student Roundtable: Balancing Life & Work in the English MA/MFA – 4188 JFSB (Chair: Katie Johnson)
- Katie Johnson
- Amber Bird
- Taisha Ostler
- Michael Walton
Creative Writing: Hart-Larsen Poetry Contest Winners – B101 JFSB (Chair: Michael Lavers)
- First: Kelly Burdick
- Second: Elizabeth Peterson
- Third: Alexandra Malouf
Women in 19th Century British Literature – B150 JFSB (Chair: Jamie Horrocks)
- Elizabeth Condie, “An Excursion to Scafell Pike: An Evaluation of Book History”
- Kayla Merrick, “The New Woman in embryo: Masculine women in Victorian Novels”
- Erica Pratt, “Economic Relationships: An Exploration of Margaret’s Relationships in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South”
Liberal Arts Studies as Leadership – B105 JFSB (Chair: Nancy Christiansen)
- Emma Wilcox, “Teaching Leadership from The Goose Girl”
- Alex Despain, “Teaching Leadership from The Poisonwood Bible”
- Anika Argyle, “Teaching Leadership from Sense and Sensibility”
1:00-2:00
Keynote Speaker: President Astrid Tuminez (Reynolds Auditorium, HBLL)
Following a rich and storied career in business, philanthropy, and academia, Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez became the seventh president of Utah Valley University in 2018. She is the first woman to serve as UVU president. Raised in the Philippines, President Tuminez’s pursuit of education took her to the United States, to BYU where she studied Russian literature and international relations (BA ’86), and later to Harvard (MA, Soviet Studies) and MIT (PhD, Political Science). She went on to become a world leader in technology, business, education, and political science, most recently serving as an executive at Microsoft. In her lecture, she will address the relationship between the humanities and personal and professional experience. This event is co-sponsored by the English Department and the Global Women’s Studies Program.
2:00-2:45
English Society Social (4186-4188 JFSB)
Join the English Society for a post-Keynote social. Food, fun, fantastic conversation.
3:00-4:15
The Book of Mormon as Literature – B101 JFSB (Chair: Kylie Turley)
- Kaitlyn Day, “King Benjamin: The Great Unifier”
- Madison Landrith, “‘Tight Like Unto a Dish’: Poetic Structure in Ether 2:16-18”
- Niels Turley, “The Miracle of Flawed Faith”
- McKayl Turner, “Power in Christ”
Shakespearean Ontologies: Death, Self, Reality – B105 JFSB (Chair: Brandie Siegfried)
- Chelsea Lee, “The Living Dead: Ontological Shifts in the Face of Inevitable Death in Renaissance Culture”
- Amber Bird, “On Death: The Paradox of Dying to Live in Early Modern British Literature”
- Andrew Levine, “The Disjointed Self in Hamlet: An Exploration of Philosophical Expressions of an Enduring Self Through Body, Soul, and Mind”
- Christopher Althoff, “The Shaping of Reality in Much Ado about Nothing”
MFA Roundtable: The Writing Student’s Life – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Joey Franklin)
- Rebecca Cazanave
- Erin Rhees
- Justin Dükwitz
My English+ Stories – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB (Chair: Jamin Rowan)
- Jared Burton
- Kristina Jorgensen
- Sam Jacob
- Brooke Peterson
- Braxton Church
- Morgan Lewis
Friday, March 1
9:00-9:50
A Roundtable on Surviving Shakespeare: Tragedy, Responsibility, & Mental Health – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Bruce Young)
- Kelly Burdick, “A Guide on How to Survive If You Find Yourself in a Shakespearean Tragedy”
- Adam Brantley, “A Doubtful Death: Ophelia and Shakespeare’s Artful Ambiguity”
- Jessie Bruner, “’I am not in my perfect mind’: King Lear and Alzheimer’s Disease”
- Laura Combrink, “Understanding Responsibility: Claudio and Othello’s Need to Own Up”
Creative Writing: Ann Doty Fiction Contest Winners – 4186 JFSB (Chair: Spencer Hyde)
- First: Scott Darrington
- Second: Alexandra Malouf
- Third: Catherine Niesporek
Roundtable: “Traditional Narratives: Creation, The Fallen, & Identity” – B101 JFSB (Chair: Jill Rudy)
- Hannah Charlesworth
- Courtney Wells
- Heather Talbot
Gender & Identity in the Work of Zitkala-Ša – B105 JFSB (Chair: Mike Taylor)
- Ethan McGinty, “The Indian and ‘The Man’: Double Consciousness by Community Identity in Zitkala-Ša’s ‘The Soft-Hearted Sioux’”
- Chelsea Mortensen, “A New Warrior: Hypermasculinity, Feminine Roles, and the Warrior Trope in Zitkala-Ša’s ‘A Warrior’s Daughter’”
- Alyssa Graff, Native American Culture through an Unconventional Feminist Lens
10:00-10:50
Creative Writing: Graduate Multi-Genre – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Steve Tuttle)
- Fiction: Rosie Ribeira
- Nonfiction: Kessia Robinson
- Poetry: Cicily Bennion
Rhetoric in Action: Making a Difference – 4186 JFSB (Chair: Danette Paul)
- Charlotte Shurtz, “Rhetoric and Civic Engagement: Passing HB 324”
- Matt Easton, “The Democracy of Dating: A Survey Experiment on Political and Romantic Preference”
- Lynae Barlow, “The New Math of ‘Consensual Nonmonogomy’”
Writing 150 Winners I – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB (Chair: Shelli Spotts)
- Jennifer Bassett, “The Miracle I Needed”
- Rebecca Haymore, “Racial Representation in LDS Art”
- Hailey Buhler, “Remembrance”
- Niels Turley, “The Fire and Fury We Forget”
- Brooke James, “Mandated Man: Sexist Language in English as it Affects Americans Worldview”
11:00-11:50
Literature & Film/Television: Adapting Gods & Monsters – B105 JFSB (Chair: Dennis Perry)
- Miriam Johnson, “Picking Up the Pieces: A Comparative Reading of Waiting for Godot and Westworld”
- Olivia Cronquist, “The Imp of the Psychotic: Finding Poe’s Psychology in Hitchcock’s Images”
- Olivia Moskot, “Vulnerable Monsters: A Comparison of Shelley’s Frankenstein and O’Brien’s Rocky Horror”
Body, Spirit, and Being in the Work of William Shakespeare – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Juliana Chapman)
- Anelise Leishman, “An Unsatisfying Savior: Shylock as Failed Christ in The Merchant of Venice”
- Savanna Stone, “Shakespeare’s Nameless Characters”
- Dane Whitaker, “‘To Die Upon a Kiss’: Spirit-Body Gender Duality in Two Shakespeare Plays”
Roundtable: “Joyce and Intertextuality” – 4188 JFSB (Chair: Jarica Watts)
- Katie Erickson
- Hannah Taylor
- Tamra Pratt
Writing 150 Winners II – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB (Chair: Shelli Spotts)
- Maren Davis, “Sole-Ful Change”
- Christian Price, “Christ in Common”
- Hannah Plothow, “Star Wars: A Culture Worth Saving”
- Lauren Hemmert, “Hope for Healing”
- Jonathan Muirhead, “The Gay PDA”
- Miranda Lim, “Mark One Only”
- Abbigail Slade, “A Rallying Cry to Change the Statistic”
- Taggart Nakamoto, “Hellfire or High Water: The Right Way to Defeat Japan in WWII”
12:00-12:50
English Reading Series: Victor Lodato (HBLL Auditorium)
1:00-1:50
The Personal & Political in African American Literature – B105 JFSB (Chair: Keith Lawrence)
- Kaitlin Hoelzer, “The Importance of the Physical: Lucille Clifton’s Poetry About Bodies”
- Abigail Feltis, “‘The Black Woman is God’: Black Christian Women as Creators through Disillusioned Personal Writing”
- Iliana Walker, “Make America, America Again”
Roundtable: “Researching Sideways: How to Find Sources that Don’t Exist for Dickens’s Christmas Numbers” – 4116 JFSB (Chair: Jamie Horrocks)
- Emily Jones
- Ryder Seamons
- Abby Clayton
Sexuality & Narratives of Consent & Control – 4186 JFSB (Chair: Candice Stratford)
- Amanda Charles, “Sexual Assault and its Impacts in Young Adult Literature”
- Bayley Goldsberry, “Shakespeare, Female Sexuality, and Consent”
- Rachel Noli, “Witches Will be Witches: The Accusation of Female Power”
2:00-3:00
3MP Competition – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB (Judges: Aaron Eastley, Jamie Horrocks, & Sharon Harris)
- Sariah Fales: “Aestheticism through Mesmerism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’”
- Jace Einfeldt: “‘The Scene is Grey’: Grey Journalism in ‘The Open Boat’”
- Anastasia Hirschi: “Equality in Flannery O’Connor”
- Katie Johnson: “Helping Writers Help Themselves”
- Katie Morrell: “Monster: Trauma Healing through Picture Books”
- Samantha Rowley: “The Humanity in Fantasy”
- Kayla Bach: “All May Be Saved: Gender Equality as the Foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”
- Braxton Church: “The Maiden’s Autonomy: How the Portrayal of Women in Myths, Fairy Tales, and Novels Shapes Culture”
- Amanda Hall: “The Salem Witch Trials in Confessional Poetry: Women and Mental Illness”
- Katie Romrell: “The Unsung Benefits of Fan Fiction”
3:00-3:30
Short Film Screening & Competition – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB (Judges: Dennis Cutchins, Dennis Perry, & Meridith Reed)
“It Hurts Less Now” – adapted from the poem “Remember” by Christina Rossetti
“Tell Me About Love” – adapted from the poem “O Tell Me the Truth About Love” by W.H. Auden
“Dinner Plans” – adapted from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
“Roll for Vengeance” – adapted from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
3:30-4:00
3MP & Short Film Awards – Education in Zion Auditorium, B192 JFSB