English students to present at national conference
Feb. 13 four Utah State University English undergraduates, Alisha Geary, Allison Harding, Lesley Scanlon, and Richard West presented papers at the Popular Culture Association, a conference normally attended only by professors and graduate students.
The 23rd annual Popular Culture Association conference was held in Alburquerque, N.M.
“It is always an honor when undergraduates are accepted to present papers at a national conference which is traditionally attended by graduate students and professors only. Because this is a national conference, the selection of these four undergraduates indicates that the caliber of their work is on par with that of the other applicants,” English professor Anne Tinnemeyer said.
“All four undergraduates were in a course examining the role of manifest destiny in the literature of the Southwest. Accordingly, all of their papers examined how U.S. expansionism affected gender, race relations and national identity,” Tinnemeyer said.
The opportunity given to the undergraduates will have an impact on them because it will look great on their applications to graduate school, Tinnemeyer said.
“They also felt more connected to other scholars on a national level,” Tinnemeyer said. “The students submitted abstracts of their papers to the chair of the manifest destiny panels and they were chosen from the pool of applicants.”
Geary, a senior majoring in Literary Studies, said she was nervous when she realized they were the only undergraduates attending the conference.
“It has made me grow as a student,” Geary said about attending the conference.
Harding is a senior majoring in English and minoring in Accountin, and said the experience was wonderful and said she felt fortunate.
“I think everybody should get a chance to do that,” Harding said.