Aerial view of campus with Williamsport, the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Mountain as a backdrop

Lycoming Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference Program

Saturday, April 6, 2024

Check-in opens 8:30 a.m.
Humanities Research Center, Academic Center/Wendle Hall, 2nd Floor C-201

Coffee with Continental Breakfast, 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Academic Center, 2nd Floor Lobby

Panels and Presentations
(Academic Center, 2nd Floor)

Session 1 (9:30 - 10:45 a.m.)

Complicating American Perspectives
9:30-10:45 a.m.
B-202

  1. “Culture Shock and Awe: The Ramifications of Cultural Ignorance in the United States Military”
    — Alison Samudio, University of Scranton
  2. “Spirits of Liberty: Contradictions of an Intoxicating Inheritance”
    — Elise Hasseltine, Bucknell University
  3. “The Global Force of American Public Opinion: An Examination of the Press Reaction to the Cuban Revolution”
    — Ainsley McHugh, Grove City College
  4. “Slept Agenda of Popular Culture”
    — Cameron MacKay, Montclair State University

Reclaiming Agency and Meaning
9:30-10:45 a.m.
B-207

  1. “Limiting Forces at Boundaries: Patriarchy and Empowerment”
    — Alicia Purcell, Lycoming College
  2. “Representation of Emptiness: The Fruits of Memory”
    — Natalie Doebley, Susquehanna University
  3. “Magic Around Us”
    — Grecia León, Lycoming College
  4. “A New Variety of German: A Look at Kiezdeutsch in Spoken and Written Online German Content”
    — Alli Kodila, Montclair State University

Religion in the Contemporary World
9:30-10:45 a.m.
B-208

  1. “Christian Resistance in the Holy Land and Theological Arguments for Nonviolence”
    — Thomas N. Elias, University of Scranton
  2. “Deified AI: A Look at the Relationship between Gods and AI”
    — Rachel Doherty, Ithaca College
  3. “A Critique of the Secular/Religious Divide: Exploring Spiritual Space through Sylvia Wynter and Katherine McKittrick”
    — Joana Diaz, DePaul University
  4. “The Marching Arts: A Study of Non-Traditional Religion Experience”
    — Erin Baum, Ithaca College

Space and Place
9:30-10:45 a.m.
B-210

  1. “Myth and History in William Kennedy’s ‘Improbable City’ of Albany, New York”
    — Aaron Puerzer, Franklin & Marshall College
  2. “Emerging from the Shadows: Unveiling Cuban Women Filmmakers in a Digital Humanities Project”
    — Juan Martínez and Mohamed Ebeid, Lycoming College
  3. “The Psychological Implications of Space and Objects in Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
    — Ash Schroeder, DeSales University
  4. “Lycoming College History Podcast Series”
    — Mackenzie Holmes, Dominick Philip, Amelia Thompson, Lycoming College

Session 2 (11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.)

Contemporary Ethical Problems
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
B-202

  1. “A Dismissal of Free Will”
    — Alec Walter, King’s College
  2. “Ethical Dimensions of Neurotechnology: Exploring Neuroethical Facets of Cognitive Enhancements”
    — Kevin Frechette, Slippery Rock University
  3. “Histories and Communication: How Museum Spaces Engage with the Public and Their Histories”
    — Gracelyn Casas, Lycoming College
  4. “To Do or Not to Do: A Utilitarian Perspective”
    — Winifred Kanayo-Ezenwata, Ithaca College

New Worlds, New Women
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
B-207

  1. “La representación de la violencia y el empoderamiento de la mujer”
    — Michaela Shellem, Washington & Jefferson College
  2. “A Comparison of Brett Ashley and Janie Crawford Through Their Hair”
    — Kathleen Logan, Ursinus College
  3. “Kunst ohne Bescheidenheit” (“Art without Modesty”)
    — Chloe Shendge, Lycoming College
  4. “Mama Tingo: The History of African Women in the Dominican Republic”
    — Jarline Herrera, Kutztown University

America: The First 150 Years
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
B-208

  1. “Exploitation Unveiled: The Sexual Exploitation of Enslaved African American Women in the Upper South of Nineteenth Century America”
    — Alexandra McNee, Susquehanna University
  2. “Enslaved to the Cause: The Poor White Southerner’s Support for Slavery and Secession”
    — Christopher T. Bolland, Grove City College
  3. “‘Your Mother's Gone Away to Join the Army’: The Militarization of the Women's Suffrage Movement”
    — Mackenzie Holmes, Lycoming College
  4. “‘Is Any Cause Worth Two Such Lives?’: Comparing the Lost Cause Narrative with Confederate Women’s Diaries”
    — Julia Marsango, Grove City College 

Church and/or State
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
B-209

  1. “Healthcare Standard for Federal Prisoners: Examining the Eighth Amendment and
    Principle of Equivalence of Care”
    — Francesca Jereis, CUNY Hunter College
  2. “Foundations of Justice: Early Modern Philosophy's Lasting Impact on Politics”
    — Shelby Traver, University of Scranton
  3. “Martin V, a Renaissance Pope”
    — Anthony Batista, Kutztown University
  4. “Interpretation of Natural Law in SCOTUS Cases”
    — Maria Stephen, University of Scranton

Film, Fantasy, and Humanism
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
B-210

  1. “Monstrous Children and the Society That Makes Them: The Village of the Damned in Context”
    — Becky Wisdom, Lycoming College
  2. “Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Rise and Fall of Harry Potter”
    — Julia Sklow, William Paterson University
  3. “Comparing Identities: How Disney's 2023 The Little Mermaid Film Erases the Emphasis on Transgender Identities in Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 ‘The Little Mermaid’”
    — Maya Niemsyk, Montclair State University
  4. “The Vulcan Buddha”
    — Newt Andia, Ithaca College

Lunch Break

12:15-1:45 p.m.

Session 3 (1:45 - 3:00 p.m.)

Complicated People
1:45-3:00 p.m.
B-202

  1. “Philip Sidney: Paving the Way for Poetry”
    — Jacob Hensinger, Kutztown University
  2. “Inequality in Contemporary Novels”
    — Sierra G. Kuzak, Washington & Jefferson College
  3. “Helen Huntingdon: Feminist Heroine or Cautionary Tale on the Cycle of Abuse?”
    — Emma McCormick, DeSales University
  4. “La identidad de las mujeres en Cuando era puertorriqueña
    — Selah Severson, Grove City College

Intersecting Femininity
1:45-3:00 p.m.
B-207

  1. “Indigenous Women, Nationalism, and the Influence of Myth: How Interpretations of Lady Boudica, La Malinche, and Queen Maeve Have Aided Nationalists’ Movements”
    — Olivia Turner-Leftwich, Mercyhurst University
  2. “Queer, Religious, and Victorian Women Explored through the Works of Christina Rossetti and Zadie Smith’s The Fraud
    — Hunter Daum, Bryn Athyn College
  3. “Women on the Borders: An Indigenous Studies Reading of Medieval Femininity”
    — Nicole Cavalieri, Bryn Mawr College
  4. “Faith and Femininity: Religion and Its Impact on the Women of Macbeth"
    — Emma Fliszar, DeSales University

Who Is the Other?
1:45-3:00 p.m.
B-208

  1. “Transgressive Boundaries: A Comparative Study of Transgression in the Works of Foucault, Kierkegaard, and Bataille”
    — Julia Aloi, Lehigh University
  2. “Parlance and Personhood: Kafka, Ellison, and Existentialism”
    — Dominick Philip, Lycoming College
  3. “Re-reading Gloria Naylor’s Linden Hills through Unpublished Parchmen Screenplay”
    — Cassidy Rubio, Lehigh University
  4. “Between Pretending and Reality: An Existential Exploration of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night
    — Cameron Antoniotti, Slippery Rock University

Rhetoric and War
1:45-3:00 p.m.
B-209

  1. “Beyond the Warrior Culture Memory: An Examination of the Practical Side of the Samurai of the Ashikaga Shogunate”
    — Hayne Webster, Westminster College
  2. “Smashing the Borders of the Tawaghit: Islamic State (IS) Utilization of Apocalyptic Narratives to Subvert the Modern Nation-State”
    — Katherine LaFond, Dean College
  3. “From New York's Gallows: The Hangings of Captain Hale and Major Andre”
    — Amanda Charowsky, Lycoming College
  4. “Beyond Borders: Wilsonianism in the First Gulf War”
    — Zoe Watson, Juniata College

Sonic Stories
1:45-3:00 p.m.
B-210

  1. “Heaven Outside the Church Walls: Depicting Heaven in Popular Culture through Contemporary Christian Album Covers”
    — Anastasia Garvey, Lafayette College
  2. “Chavela Vargas: Challenging beyond the Music”
    — Victoria Stracci, Washington & Jefferson College
  3. “It's an Old Song”
    — Connor Green, Juniata College
  4. “The Men Who Sold the World: Analyzing Nirvana’s Success through the Musical Characteristics of Hair Metal and Post-Punk”
    — Daniel A. Malsch, Susquehanna University

Session 4 (3:15-4:30 p.m.)

Problems in Poetics
3:15-4:30 p.m.
B-202

  1. “Heaven on Earth: Emily Dickinson's Sense of Home in Love and Nature”
    — Lauren Mock, Messiah University
  2. “The ‘Vowels’ and the ‘Correspondences’: Hidden Conversations of Letters and Senses in the Works of Baudelaire and Rimbaud”
    — Sarah Graham, Grove City College
  3. “On the Significance of Poetry”
    — Katie Martin, Lafayette College
  4. “The Inadequacy of Translation, and Why it Matters Anyway: An Analysis of Neruda’s ‘La United Fruit Co.’ and an English Translation”
    — Olivia Zook, Grove City College

The Implications of Language
3:15-4:30 p.m.
B-207

  1. “The Paradox of Remembrance”
    — Jamie M. Santiago Gonzales, University of Scranton
  2. “Censorship as Domestication: The Implications of Francisco Franco’s Publishing Laws Regarding Translation Ethics and Practices”
    — Maura Schmidt, Grove City College
  3. “An Assessment of Gendersprache and Denglisch’s ‘Threat’ to the German Language through a Historical Analysis of Linguistic Influences on the Language”
    — Sidney Berger , Montclair State University
  4. “Exile: A Forced Displacement in El año que viene estamos en Cuba
    — Megan Ellen Gagnier, Grove City College

Gender, Queerness, and Quagmires
3:15-4:30 p.m.
B-208

  1. “Gender Roles through Spanish Cinema of the New Millennium” (“Los roles de género a través del cine español del milenio”)
    — Dev Kartan, Washington & Jefferson College
  2. “Gender, Monstrosity, and the Metamorphosis of the White Snake Across Media”
    — Emily Walsh, Gettysburg College
  3. “Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality”
    — Enzo Arcamone, Lycoming College
  4. “HIV/AIDS in East Germany: What We Can Learn and Use to Fight Infection”
    — Siegfried Schaefer, Montclair State University

Medieval Memories
3:15-4:30 p.m.
B-210

  1. “Finding Fairyland and the Isle of Man in The Turke and Sir Gawain
    — Piper E. Farmer, Bryn Mawr College
  2. “Wyrd Women: Saga Women of the Viking Age”
    — Tom Montgomery, Juniata College
  3. “The Bubonic Plague and the Significance of the Danse Macabre”
    — Courtney Bodnar, Kutztown University
  4. “For the Lay of the Land: Conquest Versus Conversion in Two Travel Texts”
    — Rowan Killina, Bryn Mawr College

Awards & Keynote Address

5:00-6:15 p.m.
Trogner Presentation Room, Krapf Gateway Building

— Benjamin Alire Sáenz